Hi Bill,
The voltage marked on most steppers is the DC voltage that will provide the normal maximum allowed coil current. It is really another way of telling the coil resistance. In your case the coil resistance is:
R = V / R = 5.4 / 1.5 = 3.6 ohms
If a supply of only 5.4V was used it would work but only for very slow operation because it would take a long time to get the current to flow because of the coil inductance and back emf voltage. So usually a supply 10-15X higher is used so much higher voltage can be applied to ramp the current up more quickly, and then when the desired current is obtained the supply is "chopped" (switched on and off) in order to regulate the desired current.
Those low current, high resistance steppers are not likely to have much performance. They will probably have decent holding torque but the torque will drop off quickly with any speed.
HTH
Regards
TK