NCJ Number
166182
Date Published
1997
Length
56 pages
Annotation
This survey, conducted after the 1996 presidential election to assess voter attitudes toward children and their needs, found that children's issues played a more important role than in the past and that children's issues ranked among the top issues in voting for President Clinton.
Abstract
Across the board, Americans said children's issues were important to their vote. Children's issues were most important to women, parents of children under 21 years of age, voters under 30 years of age, young Democrats, blacks, lesser educated voters, voters making less than $35,000, and grandparents. As important as children's issues were, however, voters were still not prepared to be single-issue voters on children's issues. Nearly half of voters believed the situation for children would get better over the next 4 years. Children's issues of priority to voters included education, child abuse and neglect, drugs, crime, and health care. Voters cared about implementing child-friendly policies but lacked information on what government is doing about children's issues. They felt the children's agenda had definitely moved from the private arena to the public arena and were willing to spend more tax dollars on programs for children. Voters wanted more information on children's issues and felt their elected officials should be accountable. The survey methodology is described, and the survey questionnaire is included. 1 table and 5 figures