Poll Results: How Minnesota Voters Think About Child Care
A statewide poll of registered voters in Minnesota has lots of good news for supporters of quality child care. The Center for American Progress commissioned the poll last summer to better understand how voters think about and respond to messages about child care. They found the following in Minnesota:
Funding child care and early education receives wide support across different voter segments, including gender, age, those with and without children, and all political affiliations. Overall, 72% support efforts in the state legislature to increase child care and early education funding. The largest driver of this support is a concern that quality child care is too expensive.
Child care proposals for safety, wages, and guaranteed financial assistance are popular.
- 85% feel the legislature should set standards to improve quality and safety in child care programs
- 80% want to ensure that people who work in child care earn a living wage
- 79% want to guarantee child care assistance to low-income and middle-class families on a sliding scale based on household income
- 77% support increased regulation of child care programs to improve quality and safety
A broad majority of voters believe government has a role to play in child care regulations. Voters were asked which of two statements they agreed with more. Sixty-four percent agreed that, “We all need to raise the bar on quality, safety, and reliability at all child care centers. Government has a critical role to play in providing certification, oversight, and training to child care providers, so parents can feel secure with the care their child is receiving.” They were less likely to agree that, “Excessive government regulations and bureaucracy are the biggest reason so many families can’t find quality, affordable child care. Cutting regulations on child care providers will allow for innovative solutions to meet demand and more unlicensed or informal care options with low overhead.”
Poll details: GBA Strategies conducted a poll via an online web panel of registered voters in Minnesota on July 10-15, 2018. The poll included 614 registered voters, including 176 parents with children under age 18. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points. The results can be interpreted as representative of the Minnesota voters.
