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 CONTINUE READING: Voters Have Spoken and They Support Children | First Focus on Children
