After analyzing more than twenty years of polling data, Gallup found that contemporary young women in the United States are more inclined towards liberalism than they were several decades ago.
In American politics, there have always been two major factions: conservatism and liberalism. Generally speaking, conservatives advocate for free markets, capitalism, traditional Christian values, and limited government. Liberals focus on social justice, advocate for big government, government intervention to regulate the market, and individual freedoms not constrained by traditional values. In partisan politics, the Republican Party tends to lean conservative, while the Democratic Party tends towards liberalism.
Gallup, a research-based global performance management consulting company founded by George Gallup in 1935, discovered that in recent years, about 4 out of every 10 young women aged 18 to 29 described their political views as liberal, compared to 3 out of 10 two decades ago.
After the presidential candidate debate, pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, becoming a key symbol of the shift towards liberalism among young women.
Swift praised Harris’s passionate support for abortion rights in a post on her endorsed Instagram account.
For many young women, their liberal identity is not just a new label. Gallup found that the proportion of young women holding liberal views on issues such as the environment, abortion, race relations, and gun rights has also increased by double digits.
Lydia Saad, director of social research at Gallup, said, “Young women identify with liberalism not only because they like the term, or prefer it, or because respected individuals use it. In fact, their actual views have become more liberal.”
Saad believes that joining a politically cohesive group with a clear liberal viewpoint and becoming a part of it can make a young woman feel empowered politically. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons behind the increasing acceptance of liberal tendencies among young women, they now show overwhelming consistency on many relevant issues, and election campaigns can easily ignite their passion.
Young women have become a voter group leaning towards the Democratic Party.
Associated Press VoteCast data shows that 65% of female voters under 30 supported Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, despite their sometimes unreliable voter turnout.
During President Barack Obama’s tenure, young women began to diverge ideologically from other demographic groups, including males aged 18 to 29, females over 30, and males over 30. Recently, this trend seems to have accelerated.
This is related to the resistance to the election of Republican Donald Trump as President, the MeToo movement, protests against conservative anti-abortion laws that have been successfully weakening abortion opportunities, and the feminist movement that emerged in various countries in Europe and America in the 1960s, which has waxed and waned since then and continues to this day.
Increasing numbers of women are entering politics, being elected to Congress, governorships, and state legislatures, with most being Democrats, providing new representation and role models for young women in the political arena.
Gallup’s analysis also found that the changes in political identification among young women are multidimensional, rather than driven by a single specific subgroup.
The Obama era was a key period for the leftward shift of young women. Gallup’s analysis found that since the Obama era, the percentage of young women supporting extensive abortion rights has increased by nearly 20 points. The proportions of young women prioritizing environmental protection over economic growth and supporting stricter gun laws have also seen similar significant increases.
Saad stated that now, the vast majority of young women hold liberal, progressive views on issues such as abortion, the environment, and gun laws.
She said, “They are very consistent on these issues, not only holding these views but also feeling dissatisfied with the nation in these aspects and worrying about them.”
She added that their voices contribute to increasing women’s voter turnout.
She also indicated that “the women holding these liberal views are super-majorities,” and that they “are ready and waiting to be mobilized to vote on various issues.”
(This article referenced reports from the Associated Press)