With economic concerns dominating voters’ minds as voting begins across the country, the Harris-Walz campaign is hoping their investment in the “care economy” will help make up ground on Trump’s advantage with voters on this issue, and ultimately help them win the presidential race. The care economy is based on a set of policies aimed at helping parents and other caregivers with the costs of taking care of family members, which has skyrocketed over time. With the highest number of people per household in the United States, the Latino population has much to gain from an economic agenda that focuses on making it more affordable to raise children and care for aging family members. In this blog post, we draw from the 2024 Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors’ (AP/OD) National Latino Parent Survey to examine Latino support for various components of the care economy. AP/OD is a national advocacy organization that works directly with Latino parents to advance policies that promote the well-being of Latino families. This survey is the most recent national study commissioned by Abriendo Puertas and has a large national sample of 1,500 Latino parents and primary caregivers.
Establishing the care economy as central to her campaign strategy in her first major economic speech, Harris argued for the need to restore an expanded Child Tax Credit with a new $6,000 benefit for parents of newborns. These policies are highly popular among Latino families, with 86% support in the 2024 survey among Latino parents for increasing the earned income tax credit amount to give working families more tax benefits to help with their expenses.
The impact of this policy is easy to assess given that the American Rescue Plan fully implemented this tax credit during in 2021 during the pandemic. Child poverty rates among Hispanic groups have hit their lowest levels, going from 29.1% in 2009 to 8.4% in 2021, according to the United States Census Bureau. The Trump campaign’s support of this policy intervention, which has the potential to generate longer-term reductions in child poverty among Latinos, makes its prospects of being passed in Congress after the election quite promising.
The survey also provides some insights for the administration that wins in November regarding funding streams to support the earned income tax payment program. There is widespread support (83% support and 50% strongly support) to increase taxes on individuals who make $400,000 or more annually and on large corporations (90% support and 60% strongly support). Latino parents and primary caregivers largely back the implementation of sin taxes to fund this policy, with 85% supporting higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and 73% favoring increased taxes on sugary beverages like sodas and energy drinks.
The AP/OD survey also asked respondents if they would support their state creating a family and medical leave insurance program that would ensure up to 12 weeks of partially paid leave to welcome a new child, care for a family member with a serious health concern, or manage their own serious medical condition. Nearly all (92%) of Latinos in the survey sample support expanding paid family leave in their state, including an overwhelming majority of Latino Republicans. Support dropped to only 88% (50% strongly support) when respondents were asked if they would continue to support the expansion of paid family leave if it costs them a few dollars per week.
Paid family leave offers financial stability for workers taking time off to care for family or for personal medical reasons. With the decision to make Minnesota Governor Tim Walz her running mate, Harris signaled her commitment to creating more extensive paid leave programs to alleviate financial hardships, a central component of her economic agenda. While Walz was governor, his paid family and medical leave program in Minnesota offered a progressive policy of up to 12 weeks of paid leave. The Minnesota example provides a future Harris administration with a robust blueprint on how to make a strongly supported state policy national.
The Biden-Harris administration has also proposed wage increases for care workers, including Head Start teachers. Head Start programs support children’s growth from birth to age five through services centered around early learning and development, health, and family well-being. This initiative is overwhelmingly popular, with 97% of Latino parents believing that it is important to ensure that caregivers and early childhood educators are paid a fair salary and have good working conditions. One of the reasons Latinos express nearly universal support for increased pay for child care workers is due to the heavy representation of Latinas (and other women of color) in this labor force. Latinas comprise roughly 40% of the national child care workforce but are less represented in director-level positions and underpaid relative to white women in the same position. Improving pay for this vital segment of the workforce will directly impact the economic well-being of Latinas, and consequently, of Latino families. Additionally, it will reduce turnover in this industry and help ensure that the sector can accommodate a growing demand for child care.
Furthermore, Harris has also proposed policies that aim to reduce housing costs, such as providing up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time home buyers. This will be important for Latino families who have struggled to purchase a home due to the explosion of housing costs in states with high Latino populations, including Arizona and Colorado. In fact, according to the 2023 AP/OD survey, participants’ most common response to securing a good future for their children was stable housing. Moreover, affordable housing was one of the top priorities that Latino parents in the survey want policymakers to address, as 12% of the sample reported having to move in the past year due to the rising cost of their rent or mortgage.
The AP/OD National Latino Parent Survey makes clear that Harris and Walz’s focus on the care economy will be well received by Latino families because it reflects their concerns and policy priorities. These include the availability of reasonably priced child care, paid family leave, affordable housing, and an increase in earnings for individuals working in early childhood education. If these policies are implemented following the election, they will be a game changer for Latinos and other Americans, while still supporting economic stability and opportunity for many others. Unlike other highly partisan policy issues that have been prevalent throughout the presidential campaign season, aspects of the care economy are also mentioned by the Trump campaign, with vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance suggesting a goal of a $5,000 credit. Regardless of who wins the election in November, investing in the care economy will improve the economic well-being of families across the country, especially the Latino community.