Sunday, November 24, 2024

Young women have gotten more liberal: Gallup poll

Young women are more liberal than they’ve been for a long time, in line with a Gallup evaluation from greater than 20 years of survey data.

In recent years, about 4 in ten young women between the ages of 18 and 29 described their political beliefs as liberal. Two a long time ago, about three in ten held this view.

For many young women, their liberal identity is not only a brand new label. The percentage of young women who hold liberal views on the environment, abortion, race relations and gun laws has also increased by double-digit percentages, in line with Gallup.

Young women “don’t just identify as liberal because they like the term or feel more comfortable with it or because someone they respect uses that term,” says Lydia Saad, director of U.S. social research at Gallup. “They have actually become much more liberal in their actual views.”

According to Saad, the formation of a more cohesive political group with clear liberal views could make young women an influential political force. While it’s difficult to say what makes young women more liberal, they now overwhelmingly agree on many issues, which could make it easier for electoral campaigns to motivate them.

Young women are already a bunch of voters who’re inclined towards the Democrats – AP VoteCast Data shows that 65% of female voters under 30 voted for the Democrats Joe Biden in 2020 – but they’re sometimes less reliable with regards to voter turnout.

Young women began to ideologically separate themselves from other groups, including men between 18 and 29, women over 30, and men over 30, in the course of the Democratic Barack Obama’s Presidency. This trend seems to have intensified recently, for instance with the election of the Republican Donald Trump, the #MeToo movement and the increasingly successful efforts of the anti-abortion movement, undermine access to abortion. At the identical time, more womenpredominantly Democrats, were elected to Congress, as governors, and to state legislatures, giving young women latest representation and latest role models in politics.

According to Gallup, the change in young women’s political identification is going down across the board and isn’t driven by any particular subgroup.

Taylor Swift’s support Tuesday of the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harrisafter their Debate against Trumpillustrated one among the problems which have pushed young women to the left. On Swift’s Instagram account announcing her support, she praised Harris and her running mate Tim Walz for his or her advocacy for reproductive rights.

The Gallup evaluation found that young women’s willingness to support comprehensive abortion rights has increased by nearly 20 percentage points for the reason that Obama era. There have also been roughly the identical increases within the proportion of young women who consider environmental protection should take priority over economic growth and the proportion of young women who consider gun laws must be stricter.

Today, says Saad, a transparent majority of young women hold liberal views on issues reminiscent of abortion, the environment and gun laws.

Young women are “very united on these issues … and not only do they hold these views, but they are also dissatisfied with the country in these areas and are concerned about them,” she said. That, she added, could help increase voter turnout.

“There is an overwhelming majority of women who hold these views,” she said, and so they are “ready to get active to vote on these issues.”

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Associated Press author Laurie Kellman, based in London, contributed to this report.

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