A recent survey by the Every Child Matters Education Fund found that voters want presidential candidates to focus more on children's issues, including 13 million in poverty, eight million without insurance, and three million reported abused or neglected.
The ECMEF's "Homeland Insecurity" report shows that Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, New Mexico and Nevada are consistently at or near the very bottom on key child well-being indicators, while other states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota and Washington state fare better but still fall far short of the top G8 nations in the health and safety of children.
Among the findings:
• 82 percent, including 95 percent of Democrats, 65 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of Independents, are concerned about "a recent report from the international group UNICEF (that) ranked children in the U.S. as nearly the worst off in the industrial world".
• Overall, 79 percent of voters say they would provide greater resources for health care for uninsured children. Large majorities of Obama's (93 percent) and McCain's voters (60 percent) would support greater funding as would 77 percent of swing voters, the only item where a majority of both sides agree needs more funding.
• A quarter of registered voters could not give any response when asked about Obama's and McCain's strengths on children's issues. Over a third (34 percent) of all voters, and 46 percent of swing voters, were unable to identify things Obama has promised to do for children and families if elected President. Nearly half (48 percent) of all voters, and 57 percent of swing voters, could not answer the same question about McCain.
• Majorities of all voters (57 percent) and swing voters (61 percent) find investments in children's health, education, and safety a higher priority than tax cuts. When compared to balancing the budget, 49 percent of all voters and 53 percent of swing voters find investments in children a higher priority.
• Two thirds of all voters, including 84 percent of Democrats, 42 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of Independents, say they would be willing to pay more in federal taxes to help level the playing field for all American children.
