Sanders poll shows GOP support for wealth tax, $17 minimum wage in swing states

There is some GOP support for a tax on the wealthy and a $17 minimum wage across swing states, according to a poll commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) campaign.

The poll, conducted by the progressive think tank Data for Progress, found that 54 percent of Republican voters in six swing states said they are more likely to support a candidate who backs making the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share in taxes. Forty-seven percent of Republicans said they are more likely to support a candidate who backs raising the minimum wage to $17 per hour.

Overall, 70 percent of swing state voters said they are more likely to vote for someone who supports the wealth tax, and 51 percent said they are more likely to support someone who backs raising the minimum wage to $17 per hour.

The poll also found that 69 percent of Republicans said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing. Overall, 77 percent of voters said the same.

Sanders wrote an op-ed for The Guardian discussing the poll’s results, saying Democrats should focus on pushing for a progressive economic agenda to win in November.

“The needs of working-class people are systematically ignored by political and media elites. Progressive economic proposals are extremely popular – not only among Democrats but also among Independents, Republicans, and even Trump supporters,” Sanders wrote on the social platform X.

He wrote in his op-ed that “campaigning on an economic agenda that speaks to the needs of working families is a winning formula for Kamala Harris and Democrats in November.”

“Indeed, it is the formula that could give Harris the sort of victory that sweeps in a Democratic Senate and House and allows her to govern in the best tradition of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Joe Biden’s Build Back Better program,” he continued.

Sanders has been outspoken about helping Harris shape her campaign to appeal to working-class voters. He has yet to officially endorse the vice president, saying she needs to address the needs of “forgotten” people in order to win November’s election.

The poll was conducted among 1,158 likely voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from July 26-29. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.