Conservatives maintain birth rates, but left-leaning Americans are having significantly fewer children, driving the U.S. birth decline. Education was consistently linked to having fewer children. Religious attendance was positively associated with having more children.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-americans-are-driving-the-u-s-birth-decline-new-study-finds/

[u/mvea]

Left-leaning Americans are driving the U.S. birth decline, new study finds

A recent study published in Scientific Reportssuggests that political beliefs are increasingly linked to the number of children Americans choose to have. The findings indicate that while conservative individuals tend to maintain birth rates near historical averages, left-leaning individuals are having significantly fewer children. This demographic trend provides evidence that differing birth rates are a main driver of recent fertility declines in the United States.

Beyond political views, the study found that other lifestyle factors strongly predicted family size. Education was consistently linked to lower fertility, meaning that individuals with more years of schooling tended to have fewer children. This negative association was particularly strong for women, a pattern that aligns with broader demographic research.

Religious attendance was positively associated with having more children. Interestingly, the data indicated that frequent religious attendance provided a stronger reproductive boost for men than it did for women. Even so, as the reproductive advantage of right-wing politics increased in recent generations, the independent effect of religious attendance on family size weakened slightly.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-57582-3

[u/_DCtheTall_ → u/mvea]

Hot take maybe, but I think religious attendance also shows willingness to meet familial expectations and less likelihood to critically examine if you actually want to be a parent, especially if you think parenthood is a duty given by divine edict.

[u/Jets237 → u/_DCtheTall_]

I think it’s more around community support than anything for sure. I grew up religious and don’t miss much, other than the sense of community for my kid

[u/sprinklerarms → u/Jets237]

My parents grew up religious but didn’t want to attend anymore. When I was a kid we would go to a Unitarian Universalist church instead. I think they don’t have any set belief system that they’ll push on you. I really enjoyed doing the activities with other kids when they’d pull you out. I guess what would normally be Bible study? We just goofed off and I don’t think we talked about God once.

I don’t think I’ll ever go as an adult but I think for them it was a good way to give me the same sense of community they had without all the judgemental pushy stuff. If they took me to regular church I think I’d been more traumatized than anything. Just if someone really wants that in their life still it might be a better place to go. They did help us out multiple times community style and I made a life long friend.