#cato polls
The new Cato 2018 Paid Leave Survey of 1,700 adults finds that nearly three-fourths (74%) of Americans support a new federal government program to provide 12 weeks of paid leave to new parents or to people to deal with their own or a family member’s serious medical condition. A quarter (25%) oppose establishing a federal paid leave program. Support slips and consensus fractures for a federal paid leave program, however, after costs are considered.
The survey found 54% of Americans would be willing to pay $200 a year in higher taxes, a low-end estimate for a 12-week federal paid leave program. However, majorities of Americans would oppose establishing a federal paid leave program if it cost them $450 a year in higher taxes (52% opposed) or $1,200 a year in higher taxes (56% opposed), the mid-range and high-range cost estimates respectively.
These low-, mid-, and high-range cost estimates are based on the most high-profile federal paid leave program proposed to date: The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act).
The survey also did not ask questions about what paid leave policies Americans would like to see offered at private companies. Instead, the Cato 2018 Paid Leave Survey focuses on what people think about establishing a government-provided paid family leave program at the federal level.
The ACA’s pre-existing condition regulations lose support when the public learns the cost…
Democrats pinned much of their hopes this election season on protecting Americans from pre-existing conditions from losing certain coverage mandates. In fact, about half of Democratic ads featured health care issues compared to less than a third of Republican ads.
Much of the public debate centered on pre-existing condition protections assume that these regulations enjoy widespread public support.
Days before the 2018 midterms, 68% of voters said that health care is very or extremely important to how they plan to vote in this year’s elections, according to a new Cato 2018 Health Care Survey of 2,498 Americans.
However, the survey also finds that public support for pre-existing condition regulation plummets to less than half in favor when Americans are faced with the likely trade-offs and costs of these regulations, which goes against the widespread perception among the political punditry that pre-existing condition regulations are necessarily and universally supported by voters across the political spectrum.
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