More than any other issue, family formation is fast becoming the defining factor between Democrats and Republicans. As an Institute for Family Studies report recently showed, the higher the support for President Donald Trump in any one county, the higher the fertility rate was likely to be in that county.
Specifically, the top 20% of counties ranked by support for Trump had birth rates almost 10% higher than the national average, while the top 20% of counties ranked by support for former Vice President Kamala Harris had birth rates more than 15% below the national average.
Now, the IFS has a new study out looking at the lifestyle preferences and choices of conservative and liberal women, and the results show that conservative women are far more likely to be married, to want more children, and to have more children. Democratic women are far more likely to be single and childless.
Using survey data collected from almost 13,000 women between 2021 and 2025, the IFS found that at every age, conservative women were more likely to be married than liberal women. So while conservative women ages 25-29 were less likely (45%) to be married than liberal women ages 35-39 (70%), they were far more likely to be married than liberal women their same age (30%).
Not only are conservative women more likely to be married than liberal women, but they are also more likely to have children. The same new IFS study found that at every age, conservative wives, on average, had more children than married liberal women. Importantly, at no point does the average married liberal woman reach replacement-level fertility. By contrast, the average married conservative woman has almost 2.5 children by the time she reaches 39, well above the 2.1 needed to avoid a shrinking population.
That same IFS study also shows that conservative women want more children than their liberal counterparts, a result that actually increases with age. While the average conservative 39-year-old wants almost three children, that rises to above three by age 49. But among liberal women, those aged 29 only want fewer than 2.5 children on average, and that number decreases to just over two by the time they hit 49.
Thanks to environmentalists and government unions, blue states have become inhospitable places for married families to live. That is why blue states have been losing so many people to red states. But blue states are also creating far fewer and far smaller families than red states are, making them increasingly reliant on immigrant populations, which fuel inequality and unrest.
In other words, while Republicans are making babies, Democrats are just making brunch plans.
