A 2020 election-eve survey of voters by Lake Research Partners reflects a divided nation on politics but finds American voters bridge that divide in their common support of a better life for children.

This vision includes ensuring that the “best interests” of children (81–13 percent support) govern decision-making involving them, an independent Children’s Commissioner is established (65–26 percent) “to protect and improve the care and well-being of children,” and that Congress and the President will work together to address issues such as cutting child poverty in half (70–20 percent) and covering all children (85–12 percent) with health insurance coverage.

While there is no doubt that our nation is deeply divided on most issues and the 2020 election results and aftermath confirm those divisions, there is uniform and tremendous “tripartisan” support for making significant progress on children’s issues with little to no demographic divide by gender, race, age, income, geography, education, marital status, or religion.

While there is no doubt that our nation is deeply divided on most issues and the 2020 election results and aftermath confirm those divisions, there is uniform and tremendous “tripartisan” support for making significant progress on children’s issues with little to no demographic divide by gender, race, age, income, geography, education, marital status, or religion.

As our nation seeks to heal and come together again on improving our “now” and our “future,” children are clearly a pathway toward finding common ground.

Unfortunately, since children do not vote, do not give campaign contributions, and do not have lobbyists or political action committees (PACs), they have often been treated as an afterthought by policymakers in the past.

At the close of 2019, Fatherly highlighted how dozens of bipartisan bills that would improve the lives of children across a variety of issue areas were left unacted upon by the U.S. Senate. It cited the Legislative Scorecard by First Focus Campaign for Children (FFCC) that could not identify a single vote throughout the entire year that was specific to the needs and well-being of children.

As Michael Freeman, author of The Moral Status of Children, writes:

All too rarely is consideration given to what policies…do to children. This is all the more the case where the immediate focus of the policy is not children. But even in children’s legislation the unintended or indirect effects of changes are not given the critical attention they demand…

But where the policy is not ‘headlined’ children…, the impact on the lives of children is all too readily glossed over.

In the past, the President and Congress have largely ignored or neglected the needs of children and the consequences are that outcomes for children are declining with respect to health coverage, child poverty, child hunger, child homelessness, child suicide rates, etc. Federal investments in children as a share of overall federal spending dropped 9 percent in just the last four years.

The American people see this and believe that children should be a greater priority in budget and policy decisions by our political leaders. In the Lake Research Partners election-eve survey, voters overwhelmingly supported action to address the unique and special needs of children.

Establish a “Best Interest of the Child” Standard in Federal Policy

With regard to the question on whether federal policy “should be governed by a ‘best interest of the child’ standard that makes the protection and the safety of children the first priority,” an overwhelming 81–13 percent of voters — a more than 6-to-1 margin — supported the establishment of such a standard with 64 percent in strong agreement. Voters of all political persuasions believe the “best interest” standard should be in place for decisions that impact children.

  • Democrats: 92-6 percent (78 percent strongly support)
  • Republicans: 73-17 percent (54 percent strongly support)
  • Independents: 77-17 percent (59 percent strongly support)

Voters are also supportive of a focus on children whether they have children or not.

  • Fathers: 76-18 percent (55 percent strongly support)
  • Mothers: 79-14 percent (63 percent strongly support)
  • Childless voters: 83-12 percent (66 percent strongly support)

In sharp contrast, the regional divides in this country politically, support for the enhanced standard for children are overwhelming regardless of geography or location.

  • Northeast: 85-10 percent (70 percent strongly support)
  • Midwest: 80-16 percent (62 percent strongly support)
  • South: 81-13 percent (69 percent strongly support)
  • West: 79-13 percent (53 percent strongly support)
  • Urban: 79-14 percent (63 percent strongly support)
  • Suburban: 82-13 percent (64 percent strongly support)
  • Rural: 81-11 percent (68 percent strongly support)

Creation of an Independent Children’s Commissioner

Nearly two-thirds of voters also supported the creation of an independent Children’s Commissioner to improve oversight and “to investigate and make recommendations on ways to protect and improve the care and well-being of children” by 65–26 percent (a 39 percentage point margin). Such a position would track the actions of other countries across the world to ensure children are not ignored or treated as an afterthought and, since kids can’t vote, to give young people a voice in government policies that impact their safety, care, and well-being.

Regardless of political party, voters support U.S. attention to protecting and improving the lives of children with an independent voice.

  • Democrats: 82-13 percent (68 percentage point margin)
  • Republicans: 52-37 percent (15 percentage point margin)
  • Republicans under age 35: 63-27 percent (36 percentage point margin)
  • Independents: 60-30 percent (30 percentage point margin)

Across all racial groups, there is strong support for the creation of an independent Children’s Commissioner.

  • White: 65-27 percent (45 percent strongly support)
  • Black: 72-18 percent (56 percent strongly support)
  • Hispanic: 64-26 percent (51 percent strongly support)
  • Asian American or Pacific Islander: 74-19 percent (50 percent strongly support)

There is also strong support across all age groups for having an independent body focused on ensuring children are not treated as an afterthought by government.

  • Gen Z (age 18-23): 68-22 percent (46 percentage point margin)
  • Millennial (age 24-39): 70-22 percent (48 percentage point margin)
  • Gen X (age 40-55): 65-27 percent (38 percentage point margin)
  • Boomer (age 56-74): 60-29 percent (31 percentage point margin)
  • Silent Generation (age 75-91): 69-26 percent (43 percentage point margin)

Set a Child Poverty Target to Cut Child Poverty in Half

The survey also found that, on an array of specific policy issues, voters strongly supported actions to improve the lives of children. On the question of whether the “U.S. should set a Child Poverty Target to cut child poverty in half in 10 years,” American voters supported it 70–20 percent (50 percentage point margin).

Support for making child poverty a focus of federal policy is “tripartisan.”

  • Democrats: 85-10 percent (73 percent strongly support)
  • Republicans: 56-29 percent (37 percent strongly support)
  • Republicans under age 35: 62-26 percent (more than 2-to-1 margin)
  • Independents: 67-22 percent (51 percent strongly support)

Both Biden and Trump voters support the creation of a Child Poverty Target by wide margins.

  • Biden voters: 86-9 percent (77 percentage point margin)
  • Trump voters: 53-32 percent (20 percentage point margin*)

Furthermore, in past polling on children’s issues, we sometimes saw some divide based on age, as support was strongest in younger adults and strong but lower among senior citizens. This survey shows broad support across generations for children. On the issue of creating a Child Poverty Target, support was strong from young to old.

  • Gen Z (age 18-23): 78-18 percent (60 percentage point margin)
  • Millennial (age 24-39): 75-18 percent (56 percentage point margin*)
  • Gen X (age 40-55): 71-21 percent (50 percentage point margin)
  • Boomer (age 56-74): 61-24 percent (37 percentage point margin)
  • Silent Generation (age 75-91): 75-15 percent (60 percentage points and a 5-to-1 margin)

Support the American Family Act

On a specific question that would go a long way in reducing child poverty, voters were asked whether they supported the “American Family Act”, which would “expand the Child Tax Credit” for children under the age of 16, create an added credit for families with children under the age of six, and make it “fully refundable for all families with low incomes” with the expected outcome of reducing “child poverty by nearly 40 percent.” By a wide 71–18 percent margin, voters said they would favor such improvements in the Child Tax Credit to help children and families and reduce poverty.

On a “tripartisan” basis, voters widely favor rather than oppose this legislation.

  • Democrats: 86-9 percent (76 percentage point margin)
  • Republicans: 62-24 percent (38 percentage point margin)
  • Independents: 64-25 percent (40 percentage point margin*)

Both Biden and Trump voters support improving the Child Tax Credit for children.

  • Biden voters: 85-9 percent (76 percentage point margin)
  • Trump voters: 58-28 percent (30 percentage point margin)

The “American Family Act” maintains strong support by voters across all age groups.

  • Under 30: 81-15 percent (66 percentage points margin)
  • Age 30-39: 67-23 percent (43 percentage points margin*)
  • Age 40-49: 68-19 percent (49 percentage point margin)
  • Age 50-64: 73-18 percent (55 percentage point margin)
  • 65 and over: 68-18 percent (50 percentage point margin)

The “American Family Act” support is strong among all racial groups.

  • White: 70-19 percent (53 percent strongly support)
  • Black: 83-13 percent (64 percent strongly support)
  • Hispanic: 74-16 percent (56 percent strongly support)
  • Asian American or Pacific Islander: 69-22 percent (43 percent strongly support)

Support for the “American Family Act” and improving the Child Tax Credit is high regardless of whether voters have children at home or not.

  • Fathers: 70-22 percent (47 percentage point margin*)
  • Mothers: 77-16 percent (60 percentage point margin*)
  • Childless voters: 71-18 percent (53 percentage point margin)

Ensure Every Child Has Health Coverage

Finally, on the matter of child health, voters said it was important (85–12 percent) to them “to ensure that every child in the U.S. has health insurance coverage.” Like all other issues for children, covering all kids receives overwhelming “tripartisan” support:

  • Democrats: 93-5 percent (82 percent said this was very important and 11 percent said it was somewhat important)
  • Republicans: 77-20 percent (55 percent said this was very important)
  • Independents: 84-12 percent (64 percent said this was very important)

Support was strong with both Biden and Trump voters.

  • Biden voters: 94-4 percent (83 percent said this was very important)
  • Trump voters: 75-22 percent (54 percent said this was very important)

Women and men express vast support for ensuring all children have health insurance coverage.

  • Men: 83-15 percent (64 percent said this was very important)
  • Women: 87-9 percent (72 percent said this was very important)
  • Women under 35: 95-3 percent (84 percent said this was very important)

Furthermore, support of every child having coverage cuts across all groups by race.

  • White: 86-11 percent (66 percent said this was very important)
  • Black: 90-7 percent (82 percent said this was very important)
  • Hispanic: 89-9 percent (76 percent said this was very important)
  • Asian American or Pacific Islander: 78-14 percent (68 percent said this was very important)

Support Making CHIP Permanent

On the specific matter of making the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) “permanent like other federal health programs including Medicare and Medicaid,” voters strongly agreed (68–20 percent). Currently, CHIP is the only federal health coverage program that is temporary and repeatedly needs to be reauthorized by Congress and such a change would end this disparity.

CHIP has historically had strong bipartisan support and that continues in this survey of voters, as voters across party lines overwhelmingly support making the program permanent.

  • Democrats: 86-7 percent (75 percent strongly support)
  • Republicans: 52-32 percent (35 percent strongly support)
  • Independents: 65-22 (49 percent strongly support)

Support for CHIP, which protects the health coverage of 10 million children, was also uniformly strong in all demographic categories. For example, across all racial groups, support for making CHIP permanent was more than 3-to-1 with White voters and nearly 7-to-1 with Black voters.

  • White: 66-21 percent (52 percent strongly support)
  • Black: 81-12 percent (67 percent strongly support)
  • Hispanic: 77-14 percent (61 percent strongly support)
  • Asian American or Pacific Islander: 74-15 percent (55 percent strongly support)

Voters who said that “Social Security and Medicare” were their most important issue strongly supported parity for CHIP by ending its temporary status. Among those voters, support for making CHIP permanent was 83–11 percent (72 percent strongly agree).

Across the vast divide on abortion, both pro-choice and pro-life voters strongly support CHIP.

  • Pro-choice voters: 78-14 percent (64 percent strongly support)
  • Pro-life voters: 55-29 percent (41 percent strongly support)

Moreover, although there was a partisan divide in the electorate along urban, suburban, and rural lines, that divide disappears when it comes to children’s health. As an example, on the matter of making CHIP permanent, there is little to no disparity.

  • Northeast: 70-21 percent (50 percentage point margin*)
  • Midwest: 62-26 percent (37 percentage point margin*)
  • South: 71-18 percent (53 percentage point margin)
  • West: 66-16 percent (50 percentage point margin)
  • Urban: 69-19 percent (50 percentage point margin)
  • Suburban: 68-21 percent (47 percentage point margin)
  • Rural: 66-19 percent (48 percentage point margin*)

As the Lake Research Partners’ survey demonstrates, there is uniform and strong “tripartisan” support for children with little to no demographic divide by gender, race, age, income, geography, education, marital status, or religion.

According to Lake Research Partners founder and principal Celinda Lake:

It is evident from our 2020 election survey that voters are fully in support of a child-focused policy agenda. As we transition to a Biden-Harris Administration, elected officials across the country are going to be looking for points of unity to act on. The child-focused policy agenda — including permanently instituting the Children’s Health Insurance Program, reducing child poverty, and passing the American Family Act — receives broad support across party identification, 2020 presidential vote decision, and many other demographic subgroups. Children’s health and well-being is a point of unity for our current divided nation and voters across the country are extremely willing to express their support.

As the nation looks to move forward, our political leaders should heed the desire of voters to make children a much greater priority in budget and policy decision making.

As an example, the Children’s Budget 2020 and Kids’ Share reports issued by First Focus on Children and the Urban Institute, respectively, highlight the continued downward trajectory in federal investments in children over the last four years. As Children’s Budget 2020 shows, the share of federal investments in kids domestically has declined by 9 percent over the past four years and has dropped to an all-time low of 7.48 percent.

Federal investments on international children’s programs amounts to just 0.11 percent in the federal budget and has continued to decline as a share of spending.

While the country remains divided on many issues, there is common agreement that we can and must do better to focus on, support, and protect all of our children.

As former UNICEF President Carol Bellamy said:

So together let us build a better future for every child — secure in the knowledge that in serving the best interests of children, we will serve the best interests of all humanity.

* Numbers related to the percentage point difference may appear not to add up correctly due to rounding of the underlying support and opposition numbers.