More Money, More Turnout? Minimum Wage Increases and Voting

Do minimum wage increases mobilize low-income voters? We use administrative data to measure the effect of minimum wage increases on voting behavior. We merge public records of New York City municipal employee wages to voting records to observe changes in voting by people affected and unaffected by the minimum wage across multiple elections. Difference-in-differences estimates indicate that recent increases in New York’s minimum wage increased voter turnout among low-income workers by several percentage points. These findings are robust to a range of specifications and merge approaches. Further, an analysis of county-level panel data from 1980 to 2016 demonstrates that minimum wage increases are associated with increases in aggregate voter turnout across many contexts. These results imply that economic policy can have democratic implications, with minimum wage increases also serving to increase turnout among low-wage workers and make the electorate more representative.