Who Takes Leave?

There were no differences by political ideology on who takes leave to care for an adult, and, among parents, who takes leave to care for a child. Even though Democrats and Republicans were more likely to have access to paid leave policies through their employer compared to Independents, still more than half of respondents did not have access to paid family and medical leave.

Just over half of parents surveyed (52 percent) reported that they had ever taken leave from work due to the birth or adoption of a child in general, with no differences by party. Democratic and Republican parents were more likely than Independent parents to say specifically they took paid or unpaid leave from work following the birth or adoption of a child (54 percent of Democrats and Republicans versus 44 percent of Independents). Also across party lines, there were no significant differences by party or gender in terms of what percentage of people have taken leave from work in general to care for a family member with a serious illness, disability, or eldercare needs. In the general population of our survey, a quarter of all men (25 percent), and almost a third of all women (31 percent) have taken leave to care for an adult, again with no differences by party. It is likely that fewer Independents said they took leave to provide care for a newborn because fewer Independents reported having access to paid family and medical leave compared to Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats and Republicans were both significantly more likely to have access to paid sick days, paid vacation days, and general paid time off through an employer than Independents. About two-thirds of Democrats and Republicans had access paid sick days (62 percent and 64 percent, respectively), paid vacation days (65 percent and 67 percent, respectively); and paid time off that could be used as the employee chose (56 percent and 59 percent, respectively). Significantly fewer Independents had access to these benefits: 45 percent had paid sick days, 55 percent had paid vacation, and 42 percent had other paid time off.

Democrats and Republicans were also both more likely than Independents to have access to employer-provided paid family and medical leave (45 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans versus 33 percent of Independents). Although Democrats and Republicans reported more access to paid family and medical leave than Independents, it is important to note that more than half did not have access to the benefit at all.

Of those in the workforce, Democrats and Independents were both more likely than Republicans to say they were somewhat or very likely to need to take paid or unpaid leave at some point in the future following the birth or adoption of a child (34 paid Democrat and 35 percent Independent, versus 21 percent Republican). Democrats were also more likely than Republicans to say they were very likely or somewhat likely to need to take leave from work to care for a sick or aging family member at some point in the future (54 percent of Democrats versus 46 percent of Republicans, with Independents in the middle at 51 percent). This could have various explanations, one being that Democratic and Independent respondents in our sample tended to skew younger than Republican respondents, so they could be at different life planning stages in terms of needing infant and child care. In addition, our data shows Republicans tend to agree more with a traditional split in household responsibilities, so they may expect that their partner would take time off work to care for their newborn.