Nurse Patty Leal smiled encouragingly at Kimberly Dean-Toney, 26, who had just finished reading a Sesame Street book to her 9-month-old daughter. She read enthusiastically while little Madilynn clapped and smiled and tried to eat the book.

"You did a really good job," Leal told Dean-Toney. Next time, "if (Madilynn) was turned to face you, she could see your smile."

Teaching new mothers the best way to read to their infants is just one of Leal's many responsibilities as a home visiting nurse. Nurses like Leal offer pregnancy advice, monitor child development and explain parenting techniques to women who are young, low-income, or struggling with domestic abuse. They begin working with new mothers in the first or second trimester and continue until the child turns 2.

Source: Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates Credit: John Osborn/EdSource Today

In a new national poll conducted by a bipartisan research team, respondents voiced their strong support for expanding public preschool, echoing other recent surveys on the issue.

Seven in 10 of the registered voters polled in a demographically and geographically representative sample said they supported the proposal before Congress to increase spending on early childhood initiatives. That proposal, called the Strong Start Act, was introduced at the end of 2013. It has gone through one revision and is moving forward in the Senate, but it hasn't budged in the House.

A poll conducted last year by the same team, Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research, found similar results. The poll was commissioned by the First Five Years Fund, which pushes for more generous early education policies nationally.