Young Americans from Generation Z who will vote for the first time in the presidential election face issues that affect them in very particular ways. The Duty met with them in several states to explore the issues that motivate them to go to the polls in November.
Situated in the middle of a row of narrow commercial rental units in a residential neighborhood in northern Washington, the space offers only a small sign to give away its nature: it is a daycare. Inside, all the furniture is packed into a single, pretty but rather cramped room; not even the manager is allowed a desk.
It’s hard to believe that to send your child there, you have to pay the equivalent of 2,400 Canadian dollars per month.
Little Lily, 2, is playing in the courtyard outside as her mother, Danielle Geong, comes to the door with a beaming smile. Her straw hat, large glasses and cheerful face hide the worries she has been living with for the past two years.
She and her partner currently spend the equivalent of $600 Canadian per week to send their daughter to daycare. Between now and Lily’s entry into preschool next fall (a period of just over three years), Ms.me Geong estimates they will have spent US$87,000 on child care (the equivalent of Canadian$117,000).
“Daycare is our second biggest expense, after our mortgage,” reveals the 37-year-old mother. The Duty met her in a cafe a few steps from the private daycare, before it was time to pick up her daughter.
In the United States, child care receives very little public funding from the state, unlike primary and secondary education, forcing families to bear the entire cost.
While the crisis is being felt across the country, it is particularly acute in Washington, D.C., where the average cost of daycare in 2023 was $23,432 (C$31,700) per year — double the national average of $11,582 (C$15,700) — according to a comprehensive analysis by Child Care Aware of America.
“Unfortunately, I don’t really see any other options than paying the price. What are our options? One of us would have to leave the workforce or try to work part-time, which is not always easy,” Geong laments.
Especially since with their salaries, the couple is not eligible for the rare subsidized places, since they are reserved for families with an income of less than $90,000 for four people.
As she thinks about Lily’s future, her mother can’t help but imagine that $87,000 could have been invested in a possible college education, or in maintaining her old house.
Running out of options
Young children venture into the playground structures at Turkey Thicket Center in Northeast Washington. In the stifling heat, Daniel Querejazu watches his daughter in the sandbox through his sunglasses.
Aged 4, she now attends the free preschool system of the public system – a real relief, the young father admits to the Duty.
“His daycare cost us about $2,000 a month. It was a big part of our expenses, for sure. When we managed to send him to preschool, it was like getting a $20,000 raise!” he laughs.
From the outset, he admits he is lucky to have been able to afford such a price.
“My wife and I both make above average incomes in Washington. It was a big expense, but we could afford it. Families that make, say, $100,000 a year here, I don’t know how they do it,” he said.
At a nearby play structure, Dwayne Guidey keeps an eye on his granddaughter. The outspoken grandfather explains that he kept her at his house before she started school.
“The cost of daycare here is the price of rent. It’s bullshit ” he says, nodding his head. He then calls out to his daughter, who is also present at the park.
“How would you describe the cost of daycare?” he asks, with a hint of irony.
“Astronomical,” she replies, laughing out loud.
The young mother quickly gave up on sending her daughter to daycare when she received an estimate of US$2,100 per month a few years ago.
“It’s completely ridiculous. I would have had to work just to cover the cost of daycare.” She considers herself lucky to have had her father’s help, without whom her situation would have been much more difficult, she admits.
This is what JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate and senator from Ohio, recently suggested as a solution to the crisis.
“One way to take the pressure off people who are paying so much for child care would be to have grandma or grandpa maybe want to help out,” he said on tour in Arizona in early September.
This avenue, however, is not available to many parents, like Danielle Geong, whose parents and in-laws live in distant states.
“And even if they lived here, they wouldn’t have time to do it full-time because they’re still in the workforce,” she says.
A subject that struggles to gain traction
As the presidential election approaches, Daniel Querejazu finds it hard to understand why the issue is not more at the forefront. “Whether it’s the left or the right, we simply don’t really talk about child care or the issues that concern parents. And yet we are a large part of the voters,” he emphasizes.
“I’m very liberal politically, so I wouldn’t vote Republican in every case. But it would certainly push me to prefer a progressive candidate over another if they were more vocal about the issue, particularly for low-income families,” he adds.
Although affordable child care has often been absent from political platforms, the issue has gained prominence in the electoral arena in recent years, observes Whitney Pesek, director of federal child care policy at the National Women’s Law Center.
The Washington-based organization fights public policy on issues that matter to women in court.
Meeting in a Cuban cafe along the Potomac River, the director says that more and more bipartisan proposals are emerging.
“Already, during the 2020 presidential election, both candidates had addressed the issue. This year, Vice President Kamala Harris has already proposed establishing paid parental leave. That gives us a lot of hope,” she says.
The United States is one of only six countries in the world that does not have a national paid parental leave policy. While some employers offer good paid leave policies, a majority of working parents don’t have access to them, Pesek says.
This is what forced Mme Geong sent her daughter Lily to daycare just 11 weeks after giving birth.
With two months to go before the presidential election, former President Donald Trump has made no promises on child care, but has said his plan to tax imports from foreign countries at higher levels would “solve” the problem.
“Republicans don’t want to invest money. They think it can be done through tax credits for businesses to provide child care, or through tax credits for parents. Democrats, on the other hand, believe it will take public investment to solve the problem,” Pesek summarizes.
Geong says the proposals will have to go far beyond a simple tax credit for parents. “It’s a good start, I guess. But in the context of an $87,000 bill and with a tax credit that would only cover a few months of daycare, it’s just a Band-Aid on a much larger problem.”
This report was financed with the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund-
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