Elusive Public Support For US Child Care Policy

Abstract

Most U.S. parents are in the paid labor force (Department of Labor, 2013). Using a purposive non-probability sample (N= 415) of primarily upper-middle class, married White Democratic women, this study explores support for government regulation, funding, and provision of child care and the factors and context that may shape their beliefs. Although some respondents held reservations about government involvement, over 80% of our respondents indicated that government should play a role in regulating care for children in all age categories (0-3, 4-5, 6-12). Eighty nine percent supported some form of government financial support for child care, and 58% and 61% saw a role for provision of child care for children age 0-5 and 6-12, respectively. Logistic regression and qualitative responses indicated that support for a government role was influenced by parents’ own difficulties finding affordable and sufficiently comprehensive child care, and the number of children they had. We provide recommendations for how best to target these groups to support child care advocacy campaigns, tapping into their own struggles as a source of empathy for others as well as an impetus to shift toward a more universal notion of government support which would benefit all regardless of income level.