80% of US Voters Want Congress to Enact National Paid Family Leave: Poll
A whopping 80% of voters in the United States want the federal government to create a paid family and medical leave program, according to a new survey released Friday.
Navigator, a progressive polling firm, found that 89% of Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 70% of Republicans support the establishment of a federal program that would enable people to take paid time away from work to attend to serious illnesses or provide care for loved ones, including sick or disabled family members and newborn or newly adopted children. Just 12% of voters opposed it.
A majority (52%) of voters—including 68% of Democrats, 57% of Black Americans, and 61% of Hispanic Americans—would be more likely to vote for a candidate who publicly supports paid family and medical leave, according to the survey.
In addition, over half (51%) of voters—including 65% of Democrats, 58% of Black Americans, and 61% of Hispanic Americans—would be more motivated to vote in the upcoming midterm elections if Congress supported the passage of a national paid family and medical leave program, the poll found.
“Our nation’s leaders must stop ignoring what the data tell us time and time again—that paid family and medical leave is a critical support that families need, it is what Americans want, and it is what they deserve,” Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said in a statement.
More than three-quarters of respondents found six arguments in favor of paid leave convincing.
The U.S. is one of only seven countries in the world without federally guaranteed paid family and medical leave; far outpacing the U.S., the average length of maternity leave worldwide is more than six months.
The need for a federal paid family and medical leave program was clear to an overwhelming majority of respondents after they came to know that just 15% of workers in the U.S.—typically high-wage managers—receive such benefits through their employers.
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
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