Nation continues to move left on social issues
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It was just last week when Gallup reported that the number of Americans who describe their views on social issues as “liberal” now ties the number of social conservatives. The ideological parity wasn’t just a surprise, it was also the culmination of a 15-year shift – conservatives enjoyed a sizable advantage, which gradually shrank, and has now disappeared.
But these results, while heartening for progressives, looks at the debate over social issues in the broadest possible way. What are the results like when we start looking at specific issues themselves? Oddly enough, for the left, they’re even more encouraging. From Gallup this morning:
– Half of Americans consider themselves “pro-choice” on abortion, surpassing the 44% who identify as “pro-life.” This is the first time since 2008 that the pro-choice position has had a statistically significant lead in Americans’ abortion views. […]
– While support for the pro-choice position has yet to return to the 53% to 56% level seen [during the mid-to-late 1990s], the trend has been moving in that direction since the 2012 reading.
Women are more likely to be pro-choice than men, but support for pro-choice identification has grown steadily among both groups over the last several years. The same is true among all age groups – younger Americans are more likely to be pro-choice than older generations, but every group has moved left in recent years.
As for the political breakdown, Democrats are far more likely to be pro-choice than Republicans and Independents, but again, those identifying as pro-choice have grown steadily among all three groups of partisans.
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