October 30, 2025 — A new Rutgers–Eagleton Poll, conducted in collaboration with Start Strong NJ, finds that most New Jersey voters—across party lines—believe finding quality, affordable child care is difficult and a major barrier to parents’ employment, with broad economic consequences.
Nearly seven in ten likely voters say it is at least somewhat difficult to find affordable child care, and more than six in ten say this poses a “major barrier” for working parents. About seven in ten believe the lack of affordable care has a “great deal” or “some” impact on the state’s economy.
Ashley Koning, Director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling, noted that child care has become a key part of the state’s affordability conversation. “When voters talk about affordability in this election, child care is part of that story,” she said.
The poll also found that parents and nonparents alike see access to care as an economic issue, not a partisan one—reflecting growing consensus that child care is essential to workforce participation and New Jersey’s economic health.