Mothers from across the political spectrum and across the nation contribute to our efforts. The results we report do not represent the opinions of all Mothers in the US; rather, they reflect the feedback of Mothers who have participated in our surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The data shown here is the same information we share with legislators and news organizations to inform policymakers. Check back at the end of each month to stay up to date.
This report focuses on information Count on Mothers collected on a bill of interest to Mothers. In January 2024, we studied Mothers’ views on the “Secure the Border Act." A total of 785 Mothers residing in 47 states and from across the political spectrum provided feedback on the bill. After analyzing Mothers’ opinions from the survey, we take this aggregate data and share it with Congressional legislators so they are educated on Mothers’ views on the bill and the issues it seeks to address.
60% of Mothers believe that overall, based on the 7 components surveyed, the "Secure the Border Act" would have a positive impact on the safety, health, or well-being of kids and families. 23% of Mothers surveyed were unsure whether the bill would have a positive impact, and 17% of Mothers surveyed did not agree with the bill.
The majority of Mothers support the (7) components, with the largest majority supporting 1) that the federal government should require real-time access to the criminal history databases of all countries of origin to perform background checks (80% of Mothers surveyed agree), and 2) that the federal government should improve technology and increase the number of Border Patrol agents at the southern and northern U.S. border (73% of Mothers surveyed agree). The least supported is the idea that unaccompanied children should be removed from the U.S. if they are not victims of trafficking or have a fear of return (51% of Mothers surveyed agreed). Among the specific components of the bill, a trend emerged along political lines. Most very conservative and conservative Mothers were in agreement with each aspect of the legislation. However, on almost every component, Mothers who identified as liberal and very liberal were split. In addition, on almost every component, mothers who identified as moderate showed significant uncertainty on the ideas in the bill.
This report focuses on information Count on Mothers collected on a bill of interest to Mothers. In December 2023-January 2024, we studied Mothers’ views on the “Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act” (GOSAFE Act). A total of 314 Mothers residing in 43 states and from across the political spectrum provided feedback on the GOSAFE Act. To learn more about Mothers’ perspectives on this legislation, we also conducted interviews with 6 Mothers, including 2 conservatives, 2 moderates, and 2 liberals. After analyzing Mothers’ opinions from the survey and interviews, we take this aggregate data and share it with Congressional legislators so they are educated on Mothers’ views on the “Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act.”
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. 93% of Mothers surveyed believe the "GOSAFE Act" would have a positive impact on the safety, health, or well-being of kids and families, including nearly every Mother who identified as moderate or liberal, and one-half of conservative Mothers. On whether the federal government should regulate the manufacture of gas-operated, semi-automatic weapons by mandating that future designs are federally approved and preventing unlawful firearm self-assembly, 98% of moderate, 100% of liberal, and 50% of conservative Mothers surveyed agreed. Similar ideological breakdown followed for each of the main components of the bill (see full report). During the interviews that were conducted, all Mothers agreed there is a crisis of gun violence affecting their children and communities, but the solution varied along political lines. The conservative Mothers believe policymakers should focus on how mental illness affects gun safety, and the moderate and liberal Mothers believe it is a critical time for measures that regulate the sale, transfer, and manufacture of gas-operated semi-automatic weapons.
This report focuses on information Count on Mothers collected on two related bills. In June 2023, we studied Mothers’ views on the “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act” (PKSMA), however in early November a NEW UPDATED PKSMA (S.1291) was introduced, so Count on Mothers conducted a qualitative study on this update. In October 2023 and November 2023, we examined the “Kids Online Safety Act” (KOSA) in tandem. In June 2023, 318 Mothers from 44 states and across the political spectrum provided feedback on the early PKSMA. During October 2023 and November 2023, 263 Mothers from 43 states and a range of political perspectives completed a survey and shared their views on KOSA. For the qualitative study, 7 Mothers from conservative, moderate, and liberal backgrounds participated in a 1-hour web-based focus group in November 2023 to discuss their experiences related to children, families, and social media, including their perspectives on these two separate but related bills, the new PKSMA and KOSA.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. Across ideologies, from very conservative to very liberal, mothers strongly support both bills. Specifically, for the following components of PKSMA, mothers strongly agree that-- there should be a minimum age of 13 for children to use social media apps and children aged 13 to 17 should need parental consent to do so; social media companies who derive revenue from advertising or personal data should not be allowed to use children’s personal information to create algorithms; and the FTC and state attorneys general should have authority to enforce the provisions of the bill. In addition, Mothers across ideology and region strongly agree on the following components of KOSA -- the federal government needs to mandate that social media companies provide minors with options to protect their privacy and safety from addictive product components; parents should be able to report their concerns about harmful practices to social media companies; and the federal government needs to make sure that social media companies prevent and reduce harm among minors who use these technologies.
Based on their experience, Mothers believe that PKSMA should become law, including: 95% of very liberal, 97% of liberal, 97% of moderate, 91% of conservative, and 100% of very conservative Mothers surveyed. Similarly, Mothers across political and regional backgrounds strongly believe that KOSA would have a positive impact on the safety, health, and well-being of kids and families, including: 89% of liberal, 91% of moderate, and 71% of conservative Mothers surveyed.
In September 2023, 354 mothers from 47 states and a cross-section of political ideology completed the survey and shared their views on the "Child Care for Working Families Act," (S.1354). Additionally, six mothers from conservative, moderate, and liberal political backgrounds participated in in-depth interviews to discuss their experiences related to child care and their opinions about this bill. We take this aggregate data and share it with the public and Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. Across ideologies, from very conservative to very liberal, the bill has one point of alignment among mothers; that there should be more access to quality preschool programs for families with 3- and 4- year olds. In addition, aside from very conservative mothers, mothers overwhelmingly believe that families should not pay more than 7% of their wages for child care, and that to help pay for child care the federal government should fund 90% of the costs of the infrastructure bill and the states should fund 10% for the first two years. The components of the bill where mothers were split were regarding the belief that families that make less than 85% of the state median income should receive free child care and on believing child care workers should be paid the same as elementary school teachers with the same experience and credentials. Overall, mothers across the political spectrum supported this bill with very strong support from all but very conservative mothers.
In August 2023, 309 mothers from 41 states and a cross-section of political ideology completed the survey and shared their views on the "FAMILY (Family and Medical Insurance Leave) Act," (S.1714). We take this aggregate data and share it with the public and Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. Overwhelmingly, Mothers were aligned across the political spectrum on believing: Employees should have up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take time off from work for reasons relating to health, caregiving, and/ or military deployment of a relative; Employees who have worked for more than 90 days at the same job should be able to return to their jobs after paid leave and without retaliation from employers; and Mothers believe that full-time employees should earn up to 2/3 of their regular wages on this paid leave. The majority of mothers – regardless of political ideology – agreed on the importance of providing paid leave to employees regardless of company size, full-time/part-time status, and/ or self-employment status. However, there was variation within each political ideology and particularly, a conservative split between conservative and very conservative members with conservative Mothers more likely than very conservative Mothers to support this provision. Aside from Mothers who identify as very conservative, Mothers believe that lowest-paid employees should earn up to 85% of their regular wages on this paid leave. Overall, Mothers across the political spectrum supported this item with very strong support from all but very conservative Mothers.
In July 2023, 277 mothers from 44 states and a cross-section of political ideology completed the survey and shared their views on the "Parents Bill of Rights," (H.R.5). We take this aggregate data and share it with Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. Overall, mothers – across political ideologies - overwhelmingly agreed on two (2) and disagreed on four (4) of the six (6) main components of the "Parents Bill of Rights" (addendums to The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965). Specifically, mothers agreed that parents must have the right to participate in School Board meetings, and their consent must be required prior to school employees providing a medical examination/ screening to their child (or be informed soon after in case of an emergency). On the four other components -- requiring a curriculum/book comment period every 3 weeks, requiring parents' consent before school employees acknowledge preferred gender pronoun, requiring parents' consent prior to school employees assisting with mental health/bullying issues, and requiring parents' consent before allowing a child to change their sex-based accommodations -- mothers who identified as Moderate, Liberal, or Very Liberal represented varied views and mothers who identified as Conservative or Very Conservative represented similar views, and thus in these four (4), mothers were not in agreement with each other.
Count on Mothers is proud to share your collective views from the “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act” survey. In June 2023, 318 mothers from 44 states and a cross-section of political ideology completed the survey and shared their views. We take this aggregate data and share it with Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. Overall, mothers – across political ideologies - supported the main components of “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act.” Specifically, regardless of political ideology, a strong majority of Moms supported a minimum age of 13 to engage in social media, parental consent for those 13-17 age youth interacting with social media, and the prevention of companies using an algorithm to track children’s data.
Count on Mothers is proud to share your collective views from the “Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act” survey. In May 2023, 411 Moms from 44 states and a cross-section of ideological background completed the survey and shared their views. We take this aggregate data and share it with Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues, reaches out to mothers and groups across the ideological spectrum, and provides the live survey link on our website. Overall, results were divided (mothers disagreed) along ideological lines with the most overlap occurring in Question 1, that women, and their support persons, should be allowed to travel to other states for legal abortions.
In April 2023, 400 mothers from 45 states and a cross-section of political ideology completed the survey and shared their views on the "Reproductive Freedom for All Act." We take this aggregate data and share it with Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues, reaches out to mothers and groups across the ideological spectrum, and provides the live survey link on our website. Overall, mothers surveyed overwhelmingly support a federal law allowing people to access and use contraceptives, and women the right to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus is viable or if a medical practitioner states the mother's life is in jeopardy.
In March 2023, 591 mothers from 45 states completed the survey and shared their views on the "Assault Weapons Ban of 2023." We take this aggregate data and share in with Congressional legislators so they are educated while deliberating over bills that can affect children and families. Mothers share their views based on their first-hand experience with the issues the bill seeks to address.
Count on Mothers is committed to representing mothers of all political ideologies on issues. Overall, mothers overwhelmingly agreed that ordinary citizens should not buy semi-automatic weapons, that semi-automatic weapons should be locked up, a background check should be required before selling this kind of weapon, and that passing this bill would have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of their family.
This month is the Ensuring Women's Right to Reproductive Freedom Act. Click below to take the survey and check back here at the beginning of next month for the results, or follow @countonmothers on Instagram.
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