A new YouGov survey explores how much paid and unpaid time Americans think workers should receive after giving birth, and how much they think the government supports families in the U.S. There is bipartisan support for many family-friendly policies that Americans would like to see Congress adopt, including offering tax credits for families with children and increasing funding for adoption and foster care services.
Americans are more likely to say the Democratic Party does a better job helping families with children in the U.S. than to say the Republican Party does (41% vs. 27%). Among Americans who are parents or guardians of children younger than 18, 34% say Democrats do a better job helping families with children and 35% say Republicans do.
Among Democrats, 90% say the Democratic Party does a better job helping families with children in the U.S. and 2% say the Republican Party does a better job. 7% of Republicans say the Democratic party does a better job and 67% say the Republican Party does a better job.
Men are more likely than women to say Republicans do a better job helping families with children in the U.S. (32% vs. 23%).
Around half (53%) of Americans say the government does not do enough to help families raising children in the U.S. — up from 42% in February 2023. Far fewer say the government does too much (13%) or about the right amount (23%). Among parents of children younger than 18, 56% say the government does not do enough to help families (up from 39% who said this in February 2023), and 32% say the government does about the right amount. Few (4%) say the government does too much.
Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say the government does not do enough to support families raising children in the U.S. (83% vs. 29%). In February 2023 — when Joe Biden, a Democrat, was president — far less (50%) Democrats, and about the same share of Republicans (28%), said the government does not do enough to help families raising children.
Americans younger than 45 years old are more likely than older Americans to say the government does not do enough to help families raising children in the U.S. (59% vs. 49%).
What would Americans support Congress doing to support families? Of the 11 ideas asked about, majorities of Americans support each one.
Net support for offering tax credits for families with children — the share of Americans who strongly or somewhat support the idea minus the share who oppose it — is +69. 81% of Americans support this idea and 12% oppose it.
Other ideas with high net support include increasing funding for after-school programs (+66), increasing funding for adoption and foster care services (+65), increasing funding for health care for families with children (+65), and providing child care subsidies for low-income families (+65).
Among Americans who are parents of children younger than 18, the ideas with the highest net support are offering tax credits for families with children (+78) and requiring employers to offer paid parental leave (+75).
Net support is higher among women than men for Congress requiring employers to offer paid parental leave for all working mothers (+72 vs. +47) and increasing funding for affordable housing for families with children (+68 vs. +43).
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to support each of the ideas asked about. Among the largest partisan gaps in net support: Expanding publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs (+89 among Democrats vs. +26 among Republicans), increasing funding for affordable housing for families with children (+88 vs. +30), and requiring employers to offer paid parental leave for all working parents (+81 vs. +30).
Democrats are more likely now than in February 2023 to say they would support Congress increasing funding for after-school programs (96%, up from 84%) and expanding publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs (93%, up from 84%).
Republicans are less likely now than they were in 2023 to support expanding publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs (58%, down from 68%) and increasing funding for affordable housing (59%, down from 76%). They’re more likely to support offering tax credits for families with children (82%, up from 74%) and for families with stay-at-home parents (71%, up from 62%).
How much unpaid family leave do Americans believe eligible full-time workers qualify for under federal law after giving birth? 8% believe eligible full-time workers who have given birth don’t qualify for any unpaid leave. 35% think it’s between two and 10 weeks. 20% think that full-time workers who have given birth can take 12 weeks of unpaid family leave, and 8% think employees can take 14 weeks or more of unpaid family leave.
Two-thirds (67%) of Americans think that a full-time worker in the U.S. should qualify under federal law for at least eight weeks of unpaid leave after giving birth. 19% think they should get eight weeks (15%) or 10 weeks (4%) and 17% think they should get 12 weeks. 9% think they should get 14 to 18 weeks and 10% think they should get 20 weeks. 13% of Americans think federal law should mandate that a full-time worker should qualify for more than 20 weeks of unpaid leave after giving birth to a child.
One in five (21%) of Americans think that according to federal law in the U.S., employers don’t have to grant any paid family leave for employees. 30% think employers are required to offer between two and 10 weeks, and 18% think they must offer 12 weeks or more.
Only 5% think federal laws should make it so a full-time worker in the U.S. qualifies for zero weeks of paid leave after giving birth. 28% think they should get somewhere between two weeks and 10 weeks, and 18% think they should get 12 weeks. 16% think they should get between 14 weeks and 20 weeks; 11% think a worker who has given birth should get more than 20 weeks of paid leave under federal law.
There is a federal law establishing up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for eligible employees following the birth or adoption of a child. There is no federal law mandating how much paid time off an eligible full-time worker must receive after giving birth.
Compared to the worldwide average, 56% of Americans believe that the U.S. offers fewer weeks of paid leave for parents after giving birth. 11% think the U.S. is about the same as other countries in this regard, and 11% think the U.S. offers more time off than other countries do for parents who have given birth. Women are more likely than men to say the U.S. offers fewer weeks of parental leave than other countries do (61% vs. 52%).
Americans are more likely now than they were in 2023 to say the U.S. offers many fewer weeks of paid leave for parents than the worldwide average (35%, up from 28%).
Three-quarters (73%) of Americans believe that it costs more for parents to send an infant to a child care center in the U.S. than the worldwide average. And that’s only the beginning: 72% think that tuition for attending a public college is more in the U.S. than the worldwide average. Only 8% think it is about the same as the worldwide average and 5% think it is lower.
Related:
- Most Americans support family-friendly policies, including paid leave and child care subsidies
- Most Americans believe a lack of child care often prevents mothers from working outside the home
- Americans think stay-at-home parenting should be considered a job
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on August 20 - 24, 2025 among 1,127 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Bryan Bedder / Stringer)
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