How Do People Pay For Leave?

There were very few significant differences by party on how people fund their leave from work to care for a family member. Republican respondents tended to occupy higher income brackets than other respondents, and were also more likely to say they would not need to do anything differently to fund their leave. Even so, a quarter of respondents across party lines answered they would have to pull from other savings or limit their spending.

Among respondents who had taken a leave to care for a child or adult, there were few differences by party in how individuals covered the cost of leave. Respondents who had taken leave were split across various methods for funding it. While not needing to do anything different to cover the costs of leave from work was the most common way respondents covered the costs of leave, Republicans were significantly more likely than Independents to choose this option (47 percent Republican versus 30 percent Independent), with Democrats in between at 40 percent reporting this method. The next most common method groups supplement their leave with was through dipping into savings set aside for other uses (27 percent of all respondents, with no party differences) or limiting their spending on basic needs (24 percent of respondents, with no party differences).

Democrats were more likely than Republicans to have to put off paying bills (15 percent Democrats versus 9 percent Republicans). Those differences are likely explained by income differentials between the parties in our sample, with Republicans tending to occupy higher income brackets, Democrats with moderately lower salaries, and Independents tending to occupy even lower income brackets (Republicans at $50-59k on average, Democrats at $40-49k, and Independents at $35k-39k). Republicans in our sample were also more likely to be older (50 years old on average, compared to 46 years on average among Democrats and 43 years among Independents), which could change the type of care they need to provide, as well as resources and responsibilities which shift throughout life.

Some states and counties have passed paid family and medical leave programs, yet the majority of U.S. residents still have to piece together their own resources when they need to provide emergency care. During the COVID-19 global pandemic, temporary paid sick days and paid family and medical leave policies have gained momentum at the national and state level, which could encourage policymakers to establish more permanent benefits. With such desperate need in the global pandemic, and growing public support for family-supportive policies like paid family and medical leave, understanding partisan attitudes about the issue will help legislators and voters move toward passing a federal paid leave program that mitigates the care crisis we are facing as a nation.