Partisan Experiences and Attitudes on Care

In order to gain a better understanding of how men think of care in general, participants were asked whether they had ever personally provided care to a child under the age of 18 and whether they had ever personally provided ongoing or periodic living assistance to an adult family member or close friend, due to that adult’s illness, disability, or age. Those who had provided such care were then asked whether or not they felt respected as caregivers inside and outside the family, whether they had opportunities to grow as a parent, and whether they found parental work satisfying. Those who were parents were also asked whether they felt burned out and stressed from their work as a parent and whether they felt they were trusted as a parent based on their gender.

Men who have ever provided care were largely aligned on their experiences with and opinions about caregiving, regardless of their party affiliation. Well over three-quarters of men who had given care agreed that people inside their family respect them in their role as a caregiver (92 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of Republicans, 81 percent of Independents). Similarly large majorities of male caregivers agreed that they found their work as caregivers satisfying (85 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of Republicans, 89 percent of Independents), that they felt respected as a caregiver by people outside of their family (83 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of Independents), and that they have opportunities to grow as a caregiver (74 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of Independents).

The only statistically significant difference between male caregivers of the major parties on this set of questions was that Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say that their families respect them in their role as a caregiver, but this difference of 6 percentage points should not obscure the fact that the vast majority of both parties (over 90 percent of Democrats and over 80 percent of Republicans) feel respected. This remarkable alignment on attitudes toward caregiving suggests that experience, rather than political ideology, influences men’s positive perception of themselves and their role as caregivers. Across party lines, men who have cared for their children or for adults tend to feel respected, supported, and satisfied with providing care.

Although men find it gratifying to provide care, more than half of men across party ideologies who have ever provided care expressed feeling burned out from care work sometimes or often (58 percent of Democrats, 56 percent of Republicans, and 59 percent of Independents). Over half also say that the caregiving they do is more stressful than other kinds of work (62 percent of Democrats, 65 percent of Republicans, 55 percent of Independents). A small but noteworthy percentage of caregiving men feel that people do not trust them to do their caregiving in a safe and caring manner because of their gender (21 percent of Democrats, 17 percent of Republicans, 27 percent of Independents). Providing care for children and adults is a stressful job, particularly when caregivers feel at a social disadvantage because of gendered expectations about men’s lack of caregiving competence.