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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Gallup: 'Recent Surge' of Young Adults Want Gov’t to ‘Promote Traditional
Values’
October 6, 2011
(CNSNews.com) - While a Lexis-Nexis search indicates that U.S. newspapers
and wire services included in that database published 291 stories yesterday
and today citing the vaguely defined, left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement,
not one of them mentioned a Gallup poll quietly released yesterday that
documented a trend Gallup itself cannot explain: a “recent surge” in the
percentage of young adults who say government should “promote traditional
values.”
In fact, American between the ages of 18 and 34 are now more likely than
Americans in older age brackets to say government should promote traditional
values. This reverses the historical pattern in Gallup’s polling on this
question.
In the most recent survey, conducted Sept. 8-11, Gallup asked 1,017
Americans age 18 and older this question: “Some people think the government
should promote traditional values in our society. Others think the
government should not favor any particular set of values. Which comes closer
to your own view?”
The overall results showed that Americans are less likely now than in the
past to believe the government should promote traditional values, with 48
percent saying they think the government should and 46 percent saying they
think the government should not favor any particular set of values.
The percentage saying they thought the government should promote traditional
values peaked twice at 59 percent, first in January 1996 and then again in
October 2001.
But over the last three years—since President Barack Obama was elected—the
trend has gone the other way among young adults.
In a survey conducted Sept. 8-11, 2008, two months before Obama’s election,
only 38 percent of young adults said they thought government should promote
traditional values.
In a survey conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 2009, 41 percent said so; in 2010, 47
percent; and, this year, 53 percent.
“The reason for these shifts in views by age is unclear,” said Gallup in
its own analysis of the survey. “They neither track with changes in
respondents' overall political ideology-- the percentages of each group
labeling themselves ‘conservative’ have held fairly steady over the same
period--nor do they parallel approval of the president.”
Among the youngest age bracket published in Gallup’s weekly approval
ratings of the president—those 18 to 29 years of age—Obama’s approval has
dropped 28 points, from 75 percent the week he was inaugurated in January
2009 to 47 percent last week.
When respondents in Gallup’s traditional-values survey are divided by
political affiliation, Republicans---at 59 percent—are more likely than
Indepenents—at 47 percent—and Democrats—at 41 percent—to say government
should promote traditional values. But the trend is downward among
Republicans, having peaked in 2004, when 79 percent said government should
promote traditional values.
Because of the "recent surge” in the percentage of young adults who think
government should promote traditional values, Gallup suggests that the
overall downward trend in this view may be only temporary.
“The trends by age raise questions about how permanent the shift in the
overall trend is, with younger adults showing a recent surge in preference
for advancing traditional values,” said Gallup’s analysis. “Normally the
views of young people are on the leading edge of social change.” |
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