Report · Money and Finance

Americans broadly back paid leave for childbirth and serious illness

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In a Verasight survey conducted March 6-16, 2026, large majorities of Americans endorse nearly every reason a federal paid-leave law might allow. Physical recovery from childbirth draws the widest support (83%), closely followed by recovery from one's own serious health condition (81%) and caring for a seriously ill family member (75%).

The other reasons draw nearly as much backing: 68% support leave to attend to a military family member's deployment or injury, 64% to bond with a new child, and 61% to handle a family experience of domestic or sexual violence. Just 7% support none of these reasons.

Topline

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Selected responses

Americans broadly back paid leave for childbirth and serious illness.

If the United States were to pass federal paid family leave legislation, for what reasons should a worker be able to take leave?

  • Physical recovery from childbirth 82.6%
  • Recovery from a serious health condition 81.4%
  • Caring for a family member with a serious health condition 75.1%
  • Military family deployment, injury, or illness 67.5%
  • Bonding with a new child 64.4%
  • Domestic or sexual violence-related needs 61.3%
  • None of the above 6.9%

2026 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.5%

Module 2: Economics, Work, & Policy

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Methodology

Full methodology
Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Field dates
2026-03-06 → 2026-03-16
Base (unweighted)
1,000
Margin of error
+/- 3.5%
Module
Module 2: Economics, Work, & Policy

Source

Citation

Verasight Client Omnibus Survey #2026-044, fielded March 6-16, 2026, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.5%.

https://reports.verasight.io/r/omnibus-2026-044#q-2-19

Verasight survey methodology

How Verasight conducts surveys.

This page describes the Verasight general survey contract, separate from how the Data Library packages it. When a wave report is published, its field dates, sample sizes, and module breakdown are listed in that report.

Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting.
Population
US adults age 18+.
Sample design
Surveys are run as omnibus or single-topic waves. Omnibus waves are split into modules with their own respondent set, typically around one thousand respondents per module.
Field window
Each wave specifies its own field dates. Most omnibus waves field across roughly two weeks.
Weighting
Per-module weighting to CPS targets including age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status.
Partisanship benchmark
Pew Research Center's NPORS benchmarking surveys, three-year running average.
Vote benchmark
2024 presidential vote population benchmarks.
Margin of error
Typically about plus or minus 3.4 to 3.6 percent per module at standard module sizes. Question-level MoE is recomputed when a base shrinks materially below the module baseline.
Reporting
The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io. Verified legacy reports remain on their original hosts, and unpublished reports are marked pending.
Transparency
Verasight is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative.

The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io; older reports may remain on verified legacy hosts.