By: Madina Touré

December 19, 2025

NEW YORK — Voters across New York — both Democrats and Republicans — want the state to invest more in affordable child care, a new poll found. It’s the latest sign of growing political pressure on Gov. Kathy Hochul to push for the popular but expensive program ahead of a tough reelection race next year.

Details: More than two-thirds of likely voters said they oppose any cuts to programs that help families meet basic needs, even in the face of federal funding cuts, according to a poll conducted on behalf of The Children’s Agenda, a statewide advocacy organization. Eighty percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents and 50 percent of Republicans were in agreement.

The cost of living — driven by child care costs — is parents’ top challenge, with 3 in 5 struggling to afford it, including 69 percent of parents of color, the firm found. Some 34 percent of respondents said they “strongly support” taking steps to bring the state universal child care.

Global Strategy Group, a national Democratic polling firm based in New York City, administered the poll; the results were shared first with POLITICO.

Nearly half of likely voters surveyed said they would view Hochul much more favorably if she made child care more affordable, rising to 49 percent among parents.

“There’s a significant upside to Governor Hochul to take strong positions in the Legislature, in the budget and then on the campaign trail for all these family-friendly issues,” said Larry Marx, CEO of The Children’s Agenda.

Voters also expressed support for other policies to help families, including school-based mental health and counseling, universal prekindergarten, access to affordable health care and housing and higher pay for child care workers and therapists who support babies and toddlers with developmental delays.

Voters also viewed reducing child poverty as just as important as fighting crime, according to the survey.

Global Strategy Group conducted an online survey of 1,000 likely 2026 voters between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.

Twenty-three percent of the voters were parents with children under 18. Among them, 41 percent identified as Democrats, 43 percent as Republicans and 16 percent as independents. The remaining 77 percent either don’t have children or don’t have kids under the age of 18. Within that group, 53 percent were Democrats and 35 percent were Republicans.

The organization briefed four state officials on the findings, including Maria Fernandez, deputy secretary of education.

Nicolette Simmonds, a spokesperson for the governor, pointed to efforts to expand access to affordable child care as well as a universal free school meal program and inflation refund checks.

“The Governor looks forward to building on this progress, meeting the needs of families across the state, and putting New York on a path to universal child care,” Simmonds said in a statement.

Why this matters: Child care stands to become a flashpoint in next year’s gubernatorial race. A recent Siena Research Institute poll found that nearly two-thirds of voters support universal child care funded by higher taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million a year.

Hochul vowed to work with incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to make it happen, but that’s projected to cost $15 billion statewide at a time the state is facing deep deficits and federal funding cuts. The governor is leaving the door open to raising corporate tax rates but remains opposed to increasing personal income taxes.

Original story here: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/12/voters-back-increased-child-care-spending-and-other-policies-to-boost-families-poll-finds-00699999