2/1 Survey: Is Child Care Now a Top 2024 National Issue?

Here's a little background courtesy of The 19th: "Parents are entering the 2024 election cycle facing higher costs, longer waitlists and fewer options in a child care system on the brink. Child care providers are stretched thin and struggling to stay afloat, with subsidies set to dry up this fall. Both groups and advocates say the system is at a breaking point — and that both political parties should make family care a significant priority on the campaign trail. 

Efforts to invest in child care and paid leave in President Joe Biden’s proposed Build Back Better agenda stalled out in the Senate, but, advocates say, the push elevated child care to an indispensable part of the political discourse at both the federal and state levels. State lawmakers in both parties have picked up where Congress left off in investing in child care, and many are emphasizing the issue as part of their agendas."

“We’ve moved past the point now where child care is a side issue and a nice-to-have issue,” said Melissa Boteach, vice president for economic security and child care/early learning at the National Women’s Law Center. “The pandemic really underscored that child care is the backbone of the economy. And even though we didn’t ultimately make it into the final reconciliation bill, I do feel like the narrative has forever shifted on that and it’s now become a political imperative.”

Today's question: Do you think the worsening childcare crisis is one of the top handful of issues that will drive the Presidential Election of 2024?

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