When we conducted a nationwide scan for The Mobility Agenda seeking new ideas on improving low-wage work, the strategy we heard about most often was guaranteeing paid time off for all workers. At the time, there was little discussion of this option, but after we talked to workers in Madison, WI and San Francisco, CA about local campaigns to ensure paid sick days, we started tracking new efforts across the country. The SF campaign succeeded with overwhelming voter support, and the Madison initiative barely missed passage in city council. Since then, news media coverage of the issue has picked up and over 20 other places are considering making paid sick days official by creating a labor standard (like minimum wage) that covers all workers. Now, there’s news of broad, bipartisan national support offering paid sick days to all workers. A nationwide poll of 1,200 likely voters expresses strong bipartisan support for federal, state and local efforts currently underway to ensure employers provide paid sick days as a minimum workplace standard. Currently, 48 percent of the nation’s workers have no paid sick days. Last week in seven states, as part of a nationwide movement, advocates highlighted efforts to ensure that workers are offered paid sick days. And in March, the proposed Healthy Families Act was introduced in Congress. The poll of likely voters, taken June 20 – 27 of this year, shows that: • Eighty-nine percent of poll respondents favor a basic labor standard that would guarantee all workers a minimum number of paid sick days. • There is strong bipartisan agreement for paid sick days, with at least four in five Democrats, Independents and Republicans expressing agreement (Democrats – 94 percent agree; Independents – 90 percent; Republicans – 83 percent). In addition, the poll results show: • Support for a basic standard of paid sick days is greatest among younger voters (92 percent) and among African American voters (91 percent) and Hispanic voters (97 percent). • Nearly one in eight voters (12 percent) surveyed reported that they or another adult worker in their family had been fired or penalized by their employer for taking time off from work to care for a sick family member or recover from their own illness. Among Hispanic and African American voters polled, nearly one in six (16 percent) reported that they or a family member had been fired or penalized for taking sick time off. For more information, our friends at the National Partnership for Women and Families have posted additional results and information about efforts across the country at www.paidsickdays.org. It will be interesting to see whether this idea picks up steam in the campaigns, and also whether candidates put this strategy in the context of new efforts to strengthen the economy with a focus on labor market issues (as opposed to say – calling it an “anti-poverty” initiative!). They’ll also need to be prepared to deal with the inevitable complaint (see John McCain’s statement for an example) that offering paid sick days could hurt small businesses.