Half Of U.S. Republicans Back Minimum Wage Of $9 Per Hour: Poll

Half Of U.S. Republicans Back Minimum Wage Of $9 Per Hour: Poll

Top Republican leaders are lining up to oppose President Barack Obama's proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour. And that apparently puts them at odds with a large number of the people they represent.

Roughly half of Republicans -- and 71 percent of Americans overall -- support raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour, according to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center and USA Today.

That's substantially higher than the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, or $15,080 per year for an employee working 40 hours per week all year. When adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage is now lower in 2011 than it was in 1967, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Numerous Republican leaders claim that raising the minimum wage would result in fewer jobs, but multiple studies have found this not to be the case.

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