What policies would Americans support to help family caregivers?

About this research

This Pew Research Center report looks at the experiences of Americans who are providing care to a parent, spouse or partner age 65 or older.

Why did we do this? 

Pew Research Center does research to help the public, the media and decision-makers understand important topics. 

This research is part of our ongoing effort to study how the U.S. is changing socially and demographically and how the public is reacting to these changes. It also builds on previous work we’ve done on older adults and aging and family and relationships. 

How did we do this? 

For this study, we surveyed 8,750 adults from Sept. 2 to 8, 2025. The survey included 1,193 adults who consider themselves a caregiver for a parent, spouse or partner age 65 or older. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population. 

Here are the survey questions used for this report, the detailed responses and the survey methodology. 

As part of a survey about aging and caregiving in the U.S., we asked Americans how they feel about certain measures that might help people who are providing care for an aging family member.

Most U.S. adults say they would favor the federal government:

• Giving tax credits to help pay for caregiving (78%)
• Paying for short-term care for aging adults to give family caregivers a break (71%)
• Requiring employers to provide paid family leave (69%)
• Giving direct payments to help with caregiving costs (63%)

Fewer than half say they would strongly favor each of these measures.

These findings are based on a survey conducted Sept. 2-8, 2025, among 8,750 U.S. adults. For more about the experiences of Americans caring for an aging parent or for an aging spouse or partner, read key findings from the full study.  

Views by party

More than half of Democrats and Republicans favor each of these policy steps. But there are differences of at least 17 percentage points on:

• Paying for short-term care for aging adults to give family caregivers a break (80% of Democrats vs. 63% of Republicans)
• Requiring employers to provide paid family leave (80% vs. 59%)
• Giving direct payments to help with caregiving costs (74% vs. 53% )

These figures include independents who lean to either party.