In 1993, the U.S. government passed a law requiring employers to give new parents a 12 week leave without losing their jobs, but that leave was an unpaid one, and many Americans do not make enough money to take advantage of it. Other countries know better. They require that family leave to be a paid leave. In fact, the United States is the ONLY industrialized nation to not require family leave to be paid, and only one of four nations worldwide (the others being Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea).
A significant majority of Americans don't like that. About 54% want the U.S. to join the rest of the civilized world in requiring employers to provide up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. Less than a third disagree (29%).
The chart above reflects the results of a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on February 5th and 6th of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error.
