Paid leave is incredibly popular — even with Republicans

LTC Eugene Chu
Federal paid leave is overwhelmingly popular — so popular, according to a new poll, that people are willing to pay to keep it.

That poll, commissioned by Paid Leave for All Action, an advocacy group that promotes paid leave policies, surveyed 1,070 likely voters from seven battleground states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin). It found that 84 percent of likely voters, including 74 percent of Republicans, support paid leave programs; 69 percent of those polled, including 55 percent of surveyed Republicans, would support a federal leave standard even if they’d have to pay more in taxes to sustain it.

The survey, which was taken from May 14 to 20, had results that are markedly similar to other recent polls on the issue.

For example, a YouGov poll from early April found 82 percent of Americans believe employees should be able to take paid maternity leave, and that 68 percent thought paid maternity and paternity leave ought to be offered.

The United States is the only wealthy nation in the world without a federal paid leave standard, and access to the benefit is rare. Currently, about 21 percent of US workers have access to paid family leave, and less than half (about 40 percent) have emergency medical leave.

Some gems from the article:
_"84 percent of likely voters, including 74 percent of Republicans, support paid leave programs;"
+ It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the majority of people would be in favor of paid time off. The 16% that don't support paid time off are probably the fortunate few who would do their work as an unpaid hobby, if they had to.

_"69 percent of those polled, including 55 percent of surveyed Republicans, would support a federal leave standard even if they’d have to pay more in taxes to sustain it."
+Except taxes don't sustain when an employer gives paid time off; higher prices at the check out counter for the consumer or decreased overall pay for all the employees sustain people staying at home and getting paid while doing nothing for the employer's bottom line. This isn't rocket science. There is no such thing as a freee lunch.

_"The United States is the only wealthy nation in the world without a federal paid leave standard."
+So what. The United States isn't getting millions or billion of dollars of international aid from othet countries, and we have to prop up the security of most of those countries with direct and indirect military aid.