Pew Research Takes on Marriage

Beyond questioning whether marriage is obsolete, Pew Research's latest study sheds further light into why marital status can be an interesting political demographic cut. Pew finds marriage declining across demographic groups, with the most precipitous among less well-educated voters. In 1960, there was only a 4-point difference in marriage rates of college-educated Americans and those with no more than a high school diploma. By 2008, this gap widened to 16 points.

Family makeup also varies by party. Pew found more married Republicans (67%) than Democrats (45%). And when it comes to evaluating different trends in family makeup (such as children born outside of marriage, or gay and lesbian couples raising children), Pew notes "Republicans are consistently more critical than Democrats." (The full report is an interesting read on this point.)

According to post-election research by GQRR, unmarried women gave Democrats double-digit advantages the last three cycles. But it's important to remember the Pew findings when we think about marital status as a political demographic. Marital status is unlikely to be the cause of Democratic performance. Instead, the characteristics that lead to Democratic tendencies are also related to marital status. "Correlation does not imply causation" applies yet again.

 

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Comments

[Ioan Lightoller]

03:44 PM on 11/22/2010

And notice, it is the less-educated who tend to oppose marriage equality. And they blame us for the decline of marriage and the devaluation thereof.

Just a little side question. Why is it where more people identify as Evangelical, divorce tends to be higher?

[alloallo3]

03:09 PM on 11/22/2010

There is no question the breakdown of marriage and the family has been an unmitigated disaster for America's children. But I guess that's less important than ensuring people are free to move on when the mood strikes.

[The Goldenrule Name]

06:22 PM on 11/20/2010

Since the pill, marriage started on its way out. When more women say "yes," not fearing pregnancy, then co-dependency lessens, and people will become more promiscuous. People really don't want to be controlled by another; therefore, when there's a way around marriage, people will take it. STDs are the only real things today keeping marriages together. Once there are STD cures, marriage will not last another hundred years. We will simply need to raise welfare to feed "our" children, like how our school system works. Jesus in Matt. 19:10-12 actually commanded that we not marry, when translating the original Greek. See: http://www.the-goldenrule.name/Marriage--JESUS_COMMANDS_to_not_marry.htm Also, fornication only meant prostitution in the original Greek. Folks "just trust" corrupt authorities way too much. Today's church is losing lots of attendance because they are holding onto Bible corruptions, as it opposes this non-marriage reality now taking place.

The Goldenrule Name (the-goldenrule.name)

[GordonNYC]

03:20 AM on 11/20/2010

Pew found more married Republicans (67%) than Democrats (45%).
Same sex marriage should even out the score.

[Jdaddy1951]

10:15 PM on 11/19/2010

Much ado about nothing. Enough already.