From January through July 2024, Count on Mothers identified the issues mothers most want federal policymakers to address related to their children's health and safety. The two-stage study began with an open-ended question to mothers over six months, then tested the emerging themes through a structured follow-up survey of mothers across regions and the political spectrum. Five issues consistently rose to the top — substance use, abortion and reproductive health, healthcare access and cost, food access and nutrition, and childcare affordability — with striking consistency across geography, education, and ideology in both what mothers prioritize and the underlying stresses shaping family life.

Related themes:

Shared Priorities and Cross-Partisan Alignment Among Mothers

• Five issues consistently rise to the top — substance use or abuse, abortion and reproductive health, healthcare access and cost, food access and nutrition, and childcare affordability and quality — as the most pressing issues affecting families nationwide.

• At least 8 in 10 mothers report concern about substance use or abuse in their family or community — the most widely shared issue in the sample.
• Healthcare, food, and childcare cause widespread stress. Roughly 7 in 10 mothers say healthcare issues have caused stress or harm in their family; 77% cite food access, cost, or nutrition as a major concern; and at least 6 in 10 report stress related to childcare access, cost, or quality.
• Financial stress is the most common underlying barrier across families. Across open-ended responses, financial stress emerged as the single most frequently cited barrier — regardless of family size — followed by work-life balance and flexible employment challenges.
• Shared emotional strain across ideologies. Mothers across political backgrounds expressed a common feeling of falling short — financially, emotionally, or socially — highlighting shared pressure despite differing circumstances or beliefs.

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Source: Count on Mothers, Issues that Matter Most to Mothers, July 2024. Two-stage study: open-ended responses collected from the Count on Mothers community panel (January–June 2024), followed by a nationally representative survey of U.S. mothers, n=593, weighted across political ideology and region (July 2024). Research led by a PhD-credentialed researcher and an MPH data scientist.

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