Free Public Childcare and Pre-K Is Popular and Affordable
Good news: the vast majority of Americans support a policy to have the government provide free public childcare for all children too young to attend school. And now Bernie Sanders is on board with the idea.
A woman reads a story to three young children at a childcare center in June 1943 in New Britain, Connecticut. (Universal History Archive / Getty Images)
In February of last year, the People’s Policy Project released its Family Fun Pack, a suite of family benefits that would make parenting easy and affordable for everyone. One of the proposals in the Family Fun Pack is to have the federal government grant money to local school districts so that they can provide free public childcare and prekindergarten to all children below school age.
Popularity
In October 2019, People’s Policy Project commissioned a poll from YouGov to determine the popularity of this proposal. The poll asked 1,004 registered voters the following question: Would you support or oppose a policy to have the federal government provide grants to local school districts to provide free public childcare for all children too young to attend school?
YouGov found that the proposal was popular. Overall, 57 percent of Americans support the proposal while only 35 percent oppose it. Among Democrats, the support was overwhelming, with 82 percent in favor of the proposal and only 12 percent against it.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.