Poll: Public backs new white-collar overtime rule

A new poll by the left-leaning National Employment Law Project shows that likely voters in so-called battleground states support the Department of Labor’s new rule expanding overtime pay. The group says Republican incumbents who are trying to block the measure risk losing crucial support among voters, potentially affecting key Senate races and tipping control of the Senate to Democrats.

The rule, set to take effect Dec. 1, will make millions more exempt workers eligible for overtime pay by more than doubling the salary threshold to $47,476.

Forty-four Senate Republicans, including many running for reelection, are co-sponsoring a resolution that would block the rule in their entirety and ban the DOL from trying to update the regulations. House Republicans have also offered riders to the DOL’s appropriations bill that would block the overtime rule.

The poll, released Sept. 1, found that at least 76% of voters in Arizona, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin said they support the rule.

A two-to-one majority of respondents in all seven states said they were less likely to vote for Republican lawmakers who are attempting to block the new overtime rule.