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Prioritizing children's health could influence election results nationally

A new multi-institution study found national political candidates miss an opportunity to sway voters by failing to prioritize the health of a key population: children.

Candidates for national political office rarely include policies affecting child health in their campaign platforms.

However, researchers from Emory University, Nemours Children's Health, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center conducted a nationally representative survey—the of which were published Friday in JAMA Health Forum—that found a majority of registered U.S. voters would be more likely to support candidates who strongly support multiple different policies benefiting the health and well-being of children.

The study asked voters about their likelihood to vote for a candidate who strongly supported national funding for specific policy initiatives previously proposed as opportunities to protect and promote children's health. These policies included federalizing Medicaid, restoring the refundable child tax credit, expanding childcare access, funding free school meals for all children, and establishing national "red flag laws."

The study surveyed 2,014 registered U.S. voters, including 1,030 parents of children younger than 18 years old and 984 other adults. Of those respondents, 51% were women, 55% were currently married, and 65% had private health insurance. Party affiliations were grouped by Democrat (36%), Independent (35%), and Republican (29%).

By the numbers

Below are the proportions of surveyed voters who indicated they would "likely" or "definitely" vote for candidates who expressed strong support for the corresponding policies affecting child health.

• 79.5%—Universal Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), or "red flag laws," which temporarily restrict access to guns for individuals at an elevated risk of harming themselves or others. Candidates favoring ERPOs had strong support across party affiliations: Democrats (89.4%), Independents (75.5%), and Republicans (72.1%).
• 73.1%—Funding school threat assessments, establishing threat assessment and identification programs for schools to prevent active shooter events.
• 69.6% —Expanded childcare access, which has become increasingly challenging for families as costs for childcare have increased. This issue varied the most by gender, with 76.4% of women expressing candidate support compared to 62.6% of men.
• 66.6%—Restoring the refundable child tax credit, which was enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan in 2021 but was then allowed to lapse. This issue varied least by gender, with 70.1% of women expressing candidate support compared to 62.9% of men.
• 66.0%—Federalizing Medicaid, to ensure children of all states have the same access to Medicaid coverage. This issue had the largest gap in support across party affiliations: Democrats (88.5%), Independents (61.5%), and Republicans (43.5%).
• 65.6%—Free school meals to combat food insecurity among the nation's children. This issue had more support from parents (71.3%), but still garnered support from a majority of other adults (63.8%).

"Children are seldom discussed in national policy conversations, especially not as policy priorities. As a nation, we spend our resources dealing with issues in adults that could have been prevented had we invested in them when they were children.

"Among registered U.S. voters, we found policies affecting child health were very popular among parents, adults with no children at home, and across political parties. Put simply, policies that support children are popular and unifying.

"As we move closer to Election Day, we hope these data will amplify voters' policy priorities for child health, so we can start investing in kids to help them have a healthier, more productive future," says study lead author Stephen Patrick, MD.