NEW YORK, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Americans overwhelmingly view the cost of child care as a significant issue, and most support initiatives to offer free or low-cost day care and to require employers to provide paid family leave for parents of babies, according to a poll released Thursday.
About three-quarters of U.S. adults see child care costs as a "major problem," but only about half say helping working families pay for child care should be a "high priority" for the federal government, according to the June poll from The Associated Press (AP)-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The latest congressional package of tax cuts included tax credits and benefits for parents and businesses that assist employees with child care. Those changes have been praised by some, while others say millions of families at lower income levels wouldn't get the full credit and would be affected by cuts in Medicaid and food stamps.
People participating in the poll are "divided over how to solve the problem and what role the government should have in that solution," which means that "the poll findings help explain the difficulty advocacy groups, elected officials and families navigate in trying to address the high costs of care -- while most agree it's a problem, there isn't a simple fix," reported AP about the results.
