The Wall Street Journal hid widespread popular support for Obama administration initiatives, including immigration reform, expansion of early childhood education, and increasing the minimum wage.

A November 10 Wall Street Journal article suggested that a recent dip in the president's approval ratings created “new complications for his second-term agenda” and could hinder his efforts to “enlist the public as allies in the push to pass an immigration overhaul, expand access to early-childhood education and raise the minimum wage.” The Journal's suggestion ignores that immigration reform, early childhood education, and a minimum wage increase already draw high levels of popular support.

Immigration Reform

Public support for immigration reform is high. A January Associated Press poll on Americans' view of immigration reform found “major increase in support” for immigration reform efforts following the 2012 election, as “more than 6 in 10 Americans now favor allowing illegal immigrants to eventually become U.S. citizens.” Politico reported on November 7 that recent polling reveals this support has remained strong; a majority of Americans are now “more likely to support a candidate who backs immigration reform,” and 73 percent of voters surveyed nationwide would support a pathway to citizenship, “if it includes requirements to cough up penalties, learn English, pass background checks, pay taxes and wait at least 13 years.”

The President's immigration proposal includes those provisions, creating a pathway that requires applicants to wait multiple years before obtaining citizenship, pay their taxes and a penalty, learn English, and undergo background checks. A Congressional Budget Office found that the proposal would greatly benefit American workers and the economy over the long term, increasing wages and GDP over the next twenty years.

Studies from the National Bureau Of Economic Research and the Economic Policy Institute have also found that immigration tends to increase average wages for native-born workers over the long term, and UCLA professor and immigration expert Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda found that passing comprehensive immigration reform would add at least $1.5 trillion to the U.S. economy over 10 years.

Early Childhood Education

Gallup polling found that 84 percent of Americans believe that investing in early childhood education is either “very important” (61 percent) or somewhat important (23 percent) to America's future, and found that almost two out of three Americans are willing to support preschool programs for children from low-income households with taxes.

Obama has proposed the Preschool for All Initiative, aimed to improve quality and expand access to preschool for low- and moderate-income children, in addition to expanding Head Start, a grant program that funds comprehensive early childhood education programs across the country, which include health, nutrition, and social services.  

Studies from Health and Human Services have shown that Head Start programs had significant health benefits for children and parents, and the National Bureau of Economic Research found that many Head Start participants were more likely to complete high school. The National Education Association (NEA) says that early childhood education programs generate a twelve percent return on investment, making it “one of the best investments our country can make,” which “yields significant long-term benefits” for students later in life.

Minimum Wage

A strong majority of Americans support increasing the minimum wage. In July 2013, a poll by Hart Research Associates found that 80 percent of Americans supported President Obama and Senate Democrats' proposal of increasing the minimum wage to $10.10. Among Republicans, 62 percent agreed. Support for such proposals is consistently high. In February 2013, after President Obama pushed for a minimum wage increase to nine dollars during his State of The Union Address, a USA Today/Pew Research Center poll found that 71 percent of Americans supported the plan.

At the ballot box, all of the statewide minimum wage increases that have been proposed since 1998 have passed, including a recent constitutional amendment in New Jersey which voters overwhelmingly supported. Business owners also favor an increase: an April poll by Small Business Majority found that a “67% majority of small business owners agree the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour should increase, and that it should be adjusted annually to keep pace with the cost of living.”  

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) says that a minimum wage increase to $10.10 would be a “win for workers,” positively impacting “nearly one in every five workers in the country.” A February 2013 survey of economists conducted by the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business found broad support for President Obama's previous call for raising the minimum wage to $9.00. The Center for Economic and Policy Research has explained that raising the minimum wage has no “discernible impact” on employment, and that wage increases often result in more jobs rather than less.