It’s no surprise that Vice President Kamala Harris thinks the government should do more to help parents raise children. Like many Democrats, she has long supported three big policy goals: a larger child tax credit, paid family leave and reducing the cost of child care.

The surprise is that, according to a spokesperson, former President Donald Trump does too.

Candidates make promises that they might not keep and that Congress might not agree with. Trump’s commitment to these particular policies is less apparent than Harris’. He has said little publicly about them. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has said somewhat more, but it’s unclear whether Trump agrees with him.

Yet the fact that the Trump campaign is supporting these ideas at all is part of a shift over the past few years in the Republican Party and potentially in the role of the government in American family life.

“One hundred percent it is the first time we’ve seen all four top-ticket candidates be talking about paid leave, child care and the child tax credit,” said Adrienne Schweer, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Harris promoted the child tax credit, paid leave and affordable child care as part of the Biden administration’s large social spending bill. As a senator, she co-sponsored family policy bills. These policies are a regular part of her stump speech. As governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, her running mate, signed into law all three.

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said Trump also supports the three major family policies. He plans to expand “the child tax credit, lower child care costs that have increased by 32% since Kamala Harris took office, and continue to support expansions for family leave.”

Still, not everyone is convinced that these are priorities for him.

“Paint me skeptical,” Christine Matthews, a pollster, said of Trump’s support. “He is simply not campaigning on this.”

Republicans have traditionally opposed family policies that require additional government spending or new programs. They blocked the Biden administration’s plans for them and in August voted against separate legislation that would have increased the child tax credit. If Republicans control Congress, it will probably be hard for either candidate to pass family policies.

But in recent years, a contingent of the party has started to embrace these policies, which are common in other rich countries. These Republicans have been spurred by declining fertility rates and by the need to appeal to voters like low-wage workers, who are less likely to receive family benefits from employers.

Also, after many Republican-led states banned abortion, conservatives said they needed to do more to support families with young children.

Of the three major family policies, the Harris and Trump campaigns provided the most detail on their plans to increase the child tax credit.

There’s a major difference between the two: Harris supports including the poorest parents, including those with no incomes. Most Republicans, including Trump when he was in office, have said that only parents with a minimum amount of income should receive a credit, to promote paid work.

Currently, most families — but not the poorest — receive a $2,000 annual tax credit for each child younger than 17. Trump doubled it from $1,000 when he was president and extended it to higher-earning families; that extension expires next year. As president, he says, he would make it permanent.

In 2021, the Biden administration expanded the child tax credit even more, as part of one-year pandemic relief. Checks were sent monthly to parents’ bank accounts, and the credit was made “fully refundable,” meaning even parents with no or very low income received it. The result was a nearly 30% decrease in child poverty.

Harris has said she plans to restore that — and add a benefit for newborns. Under her plan, parents would receive $6,000 in a child’s first year of life; $3,600 a year for children between 1 and 6; and $3,000 a year for children between 7 and 17.

The key difference between Democrats and Republicans on paid family leave is how it would be paid for. Democrats generally support a new tax to finance workers’ time off. Republicans have preferred tax breaks for businesses that voluntarily provide it, or ways for people to tap their Social Security or retirement savings early.

Neither campaign shared details on what kind of a plan it would support, but Harris’ record provides hints. She is a co-sponsor of the Family Act, the Democrats’ paid leave bill, which would provide 12 weeks of family and medical leave for workers to take time off for a baby or the health of family members or for their own health. It would be financed by a small payroll tax split between employers and workers. In the 2020 race, she called for six months of paid leave.

At the Pittsburgh Economic Club last month, she said her administration would “finally give all working people access to paid leave, which will help everyone caring for children, caring for aging parents, and that sandwich generation which is caring for both.”

Harris mentions paid leave regularly in her stump speech, but Trump has rarely spoken about it during the race. Leavitt said he supports “family leave,” but did not clarify whether it would be paid.

During his presidency, he signed a bill giving federal workers 12 weeks of paid leave, which was a Democratic priority within a larger defense bill. His administration also started smaller programs, like a tax credit for businesses providing paid leave to low-income workers and an option for new parents to withdraw from their retirement accounts.

Both candidates have said child care needs to be more affordable. Of the three family policies, they have provided the least detail on how, although Harris has said much more on the issue in the past.

“The big difference is, the Democrats are trying to subsidize and reduce the cost, and the Republicans are trying to encourage private business and families to provide it,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus on Children, a policy group. “But the ‘how’ is really a problem for both parties.”