New Survey Shows Strong Support For Family-Friendly Policies

By a margin of five to one, Americans favor state proposals for paid parental leave. Americans also favor, by a margin of two to one, public financial assistance for childcare, according to a recent survey by the Civitas Initiative and the pro-child organization Zero To Three.

“Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose a paid parental leave that allows working parents of very young babies to stay home from work to care for their children?”
Strongly/Somewhat support 80%
Strongly/Somewhat oppose 16%

“Some states are considering proposals to expand their disability or unemployment insurance programs to help families afford to take time off from work to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child or a seriously ill family member. Would you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose such a proposal?”
Strongly/Somewhat support 85%
Strongly/Somewhat oppose 14%

“Generally speaking, do you think the government should provide financial assistance to families to help them afford quality childcare?”
Yes 65%
No 29%
Not sure 6%

If answered “no” to above, “Generally speaking, do you think the government should provide financial assistance to lower income families to help them afford quality childcare?”
Provide assistance to all families 65%
Provide assistance only to lower income families 11%
Provide assistance to all/lower income (combined) 75%
Do not provide assistance to any families 18%
Not sure 7%

Data from What Grown-Ups Understand About Child Development: A National Benchmark Survey, Civitas Initiative, Zero To Three, Brio Corporation. 3,000 adult Americans polled by telephone 6/2 to 7/5/00, margin of error 1.8%, Researched by DYG, Inc., report available at www.zerotothree.org.