Are voters really willing to increase their own taxes to fund “kids’ stuff” after two years of a pandemic, recession, and political instability? The answer is a resounding yes, according to a new poll we commissioned in partnership with Children’s Funding Accelerator (our advocacy arm). In fact, voters might be more enthusiastic than ever: More than 80% of voters believe that creating equitable opportunities for children to get a strong start in life should be one of the highest priorities for government.

Like you, we were curious about how the past year might have changed public enthusiasm for funding programs and services for children and youth and whether the recession; federal stimulus packages; and closures of schools, pre-K programs, and child care centers would impact voters’ attitudes. But the results from our new poll and meta-analysis of over 60 state, local, and national surveys (both conducted by FM3 Research in August) are encouraging.

Kids’ Needs Are a Top Priority

When we asked voters to rank a set of priorities by how important they are for state and local governments to address, we found that kids are as high of a priority as strengthening the economy—and a much higher priority than reducing taxes and government spending. Whereas 82% of respondents said that “improving opportunities for all children to get a strong start in life” is extremely important or very important, 83% rank “strengthening the economy” that highly. Meanwhile, 63% said that “reducing taxes and government spending” is extremely or very important.

One of our field’s main challenges is converting this willingness to prioritize children and youth into action. Yet a strong majority of voters express willingness to put their money behind their priorities. How much money? Among voters, 70% are willing to raise their taxes by $25 per year and 64% by $150 per year to fund “programs and services to support the development of children of all ages.” To put this in context, on the November 2020 ballot voters in Leon County and Escambia County, FL, approved property taxes for children’s services that will cost the average homeowner approximately $87 per year and $75 per year, respectively. (Read more about the Escambia County and Leon County campaigns in our case studies!)

One concern that we heard repeatedly over the past year was that federal funding for child and youth opportunities would dampen enthusiasm for generating public funding at other levels of government. Many of you shared your concerns that voters might see the historic investments made through the American Rescue Plan and proposed in President Biden’s Build Back Better Act as more than enough funding for children and youth. However, at the time of the poll, only 50% of respondents had heard, read, or seen anything about increases for child care and early learning funding from federal COVID-relief packages. When pollsters told voters more about the federal funding for pre-K, child care, and tax credits to reduce child poverty proposed in the Build Back Better Act, only 1 in 10 voters was very confident that the proposal would meet all the needs of children and youth in their communities. Similarly, 60% of voters believe that their communities will need additional funding for child care and early learning.

Of the voters who see a need for additional funding, 42% believe the federal government should play a role in meeting that need. But, more importantly, they also believe that state governments, local governments, and parents of young children have roles to play too. Taken in sum, the results of the poll and meta-analysis paint a picture of a national constituency that sees a shared responsibility for ensuring that all children have opportunities for a strong start in life. In particular, voters are enthusiastic about seeing corporations and taxpayers with wealth or higher incomes pay their fair shares. When asked about a variety of potential taxing mechanisms, voters are more likely to find progressive taxing mechanisms acceptable. For example, voters are more likely to accept a tax on the sale of commercial property and/or other types of property valued at over $1 million than a general property tax increase. This trend is true overall and remains consistent when looking at the votes of those who identify as Republicans separately from those who identify as Democrats or Independents.

Other preferred mechanisms of generating new revenue include increasing taxes specifically on corporate profits and on high-income earners. Voters also expressed a preference for less common taxes over traditional flat sales and property taxes: Taxes on online sports betting or sports betting in general polled the highest of the 10 taxing mechanisms tested, with 82% and 78% of respondents rating them an acceptable way to raise new funding. Voters also preferred taxes on sales of digital advertising or sales of personal data collected by technology companies to traditional property and sales taxes, though these mechanisms are new and largely untested.

One additional finding of interest is what voters see as the most important opportunities to provide to all children. While pre-K and child care have received the most headlines this year, youth mental health services and maternal and infant health services score between 5 and 10 percentage points higher with voters. One way that localities can respond to this high need and enthusiasm for child and youth services across the board is to dedicate a percentage of local public revenue to an early childhood or children’s services fund that has the flexibility to respond to local needs. Examples of these funds can be found on Children’s Funding Project’s interactive map of local dedicated funds for children.

Conclusion

These results give us a renewed sense of optimism about the nation’s enthusiasm for funding opportunities for all children to get a strong start in life. We believe that the coming years will provide opportunities for us to harness this enthusiasm and convert it into impact.

In the coming months, we’ll release additional insights from the poll and meta-analysis, including guidance about how to turn these insights into messaging strategy and an analysis of the questions we should ask next. In the meantime, check out our infographic of other key takeaways from the poll and sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss any of these additional resources!

Olivia Allen is strategy director at Children’s Funding Project.