As Democrats work to sell the public on President Joe Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, they should be talking about universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds at every juncture possible. It’s a policy that is memorable, easy for the public to comprehend, and broadly applicable to anyone who is raising kids or has loved ones raising kids. It has proven very popular with all the right demographics across multiple polls now. And it’s one that Republicans seem determined to exclude from any potential deal the White House manages to cut with them because, well, it’s not a road or a bridge so it apparently doesn’t matter to Republicans. Here’s the top lines from recent polling:

Support for Biden's universal pre-K proposal

	
		
        Support
        Oppose
	


	
        <a href="https://civiqs.com/documents/Civiqs_DailyKos_monthly_banner_book_2021_05_q61458.pdf">Civiqs</a> (May)
        61%
        25%
	
	
		
        <a href="https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2021/05/05062006/2104156_crosstabs_POLITICO_RVs_v1_SH.pdf">Politico/Morning Consult</a> (Apr-May)
		
        63%
        26%
	
	
		
        <a href="https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/y4mb321uuq/20210406_yahoo_vaccine_tabs.pdf">Yahoo/You Gov</a> (April)
		
        58%
        23%

Those are very solid baseline numbers that are on par with a lot of popular provisions Biden has included in his jobs and families plans. One notable aspect of the data is how low opposition is to the idea, giving Democrats even more room to grow support for it. In the Civiqs survey, for instance, 14% said they were still unsure about what they thought.

But let’s also dig into the demographics in the Civiqs cross tabs.

Core members of the Democratic base love the idea, with support from 88% of Black respondents and 80% of Latino respondents. It polls above 60% for people of all education levels—college graduates, non-college graduates, and post-graduates. Among younger voters, nearly two-thirds support it: 64% of 18- to 34-year-olds and 65% of 35- to 49-year-olds. It’s adored in urban areas (74%), polls well in suburban areas (61%), and even garners a 51% majority in rural areas.

The issue also gives the 65% of women who support it one more reason to favor Democrats. Affordable child care is a particularly salient topic for women right now after closures and the excessive cost of child care during the pandemic pushed them out of the work force at staggering rates.

That’s a point President Biden drove home in an interview Wednesday with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell about the $4 trillion in proposals he’s working to shepherd through Congress. 

“I want to get a bipartisan deal on as much as we can get a bipartisan deal on. And that means roads, bridges, broadband, infrastructure,” Biden said of his negotiations with Republicans. “But I am not giving up on the fact that we have 2 million women not able to go back to work because all the day care centers are closed or out of business,” Biden added, in a nod to the fact that those Republicans don’t support parts of his plan designed to bring down the cost of child care. 

Universal pre-K has also attracted the attention of GOP lawmakers in the states, who with their usual clarity of purpose are determined to kill it. Anything that might educate the masses must be eliminated immediately in GOP circles. 

Politico writes:

Along the lines of the Medicaid expansion included in the Affordable Care Act that many red states rejected, some GOP lawmakers in states like Wisconsin, Florida, and Alabama are already saying they will refuse to partner with the federal government on the expansion of pre-school and free community college tuition because they think they can rile up their supporters over it.

“We’re not big fans of the federal government stepping in. And they do not have any constitutional authority to step in in the education realm,” Chris Kapenga, the Republican president of the Wisconsin state Senate, told Politico. “I do not see Wisconsin getting on board in any way with either the pre-K or the technical college.”

Sounds like the perfect issue for Republicans to rail about for Trumpers at the expense of the suburban voters they also desperately need next year. Have at it—that’s an issue Democrats should want to hammer Republicans over in the midterms.