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LIFESTYLE

77% Say Two-Parent Home Very Important for Children

Americans almost universally agree that it’s better for children to grow up in a home with both their parents and feel strongly that such children have an edge over those whose parents are divorced.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 94% of American Adults believe it is at least somewhat important for children to grow up in a home with both their parents. That includes 77% who say it is Very Important.  Just four percent (4%) think it’s not very important. Statistically speaking, no one says having both parents in the home is Not At All Important. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

These findings are essentially unchanged from a survey a year ago.

Similarly little changed is the finding that 70% of adults think children who grow up in a home with both parents have an advantage over children whose parents are divorced. Eighteen percent (18%) disagree and say that’s not the case. Twelve percent (12%) aren’t sure.

Eighty percent (80%) of those who grew up in a household with both parents rate that family environment as Very Important, compared to 63% of those who did not have two parents in the home. While 76% of those who had two parents at home think that arrangement gives a child an advantage, just 50% of those who didn’t have two parents in the home agree.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.  

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 15-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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