Not Wrong at All: 61%

This is something to behold. Rarely do attitudes change so dramatically in just a few decades. Between 1990 and 2021, the share of Americans who regard same-sex sexual relationships as "always wrong" plunged from 59 to just 27 percent, according to NORC's General Social Survey (GSS). The share who regard same-sex sexual relationships as "not wrong at all" climbed from just 13 percent to the 61 percent majority. 

Attitudes toward same-sex relationships, 1973 to 2021

	Not wrong at all	Always wrong
2021	61%	27%
2010	43	46
2000	29	59
1990	13	76
1980	14	74
1973	11	73

The "always wrong" response to the GSS question, "What is your opinion about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex?" fell below 50 percent for the first time in 2010. The "not wrong at all" response to the question climbed over 50 percent for the first time in 2016. Today, the "not wrong at all" crowd outnumbers the "always wrong" crowd by more than two to one. The majority of Americans in all but the oldest generation now say there is nothing wrong with same-sex relationships. Take a look...

Attitudes toward same-sex relationships by generation, 2021

	Not wrong at all	Always wrong
Gen Z (18-26)	74%	15%
Millennials (27-44)	67	22
Gen Xers (45-56)	61	30
Boomers (57-75)	55	34
Older Americans (76+)	38	37

Note: Percentages do not sum to 100 because the responses "almost always wrong" and "wrong only sometimes" are not shown.

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the General Social Survey, NORC at the University of Chicago

Democrats and Republicans Have Different Priorities

Could there be bigger differences of opinion about the most important issues facing the nation than the ones between Democrats and Republicans? The answer is no—not by age, not by race, and not by education, according to a Pew Research Center survey. 

When asked which issues "should be a top priority for the president and Congress to address this year," here are the five regarded as most important by Democrats... 

Top 5 priorities, according to Democrats (percent saying issue should be a top priority)

1. Dealing with the coronavirus outbreak (80%)

2. Reducing health care costs (69%)

3. Improving the educational system (66%)

4. Dealing with global climate change (65%)

5. Strengthening the nation's economy (63%)

Only one of the Democrats' top priorities appears on the Republican top-five list. Take a look...

Top 5 priorities, according to Republicans (percent saying issue should be a top priority)

1. Strengthening the nation's economy (82%)

2. Dealing with the issue of immigration (67%)

3. Defending the country from future terrorist attacks (65%)

4. Reducing the budget deficit (63%)

5. Reducing crime (60%)

Strengthening the nation's economy is the only priority that both Democrats and Republicans rank among the most important. 

It gets worse. Two of the Democrats' top priorities are among the five lowest-priority issues for Republicans. A paltry 11 percent of Republicans think global climate change should be a priority (versus 65 percent of Democrats). Just 35 percent of Republicans think dealing with the coronavirus outbreak should be a priority (versus 80 percent of Democrats). Also among the five lowest-priority issues for Republicans are dealing with drug addiction (27 percent), dealing with the problems of poor people (25 percent), and addressing issues around race in this country (14 percent).

Conversely, two of the Republicans' top priorities are among the five lowest-priority issues for Democrats. Only 35 percent of Democrats think immigration should be a priority (versus 67 percent of Republicans). Just 31 percent of Democrats say the budget deficit should be a priority (versus 63 percent of Republicans). Also among the five lowest-priority issues for Democrats are dealing with drug addiction (32 percent), dealing with global trade issues (30 percent), and strengthening the U.S. military (22 percent). 

Source: Pew Research Center, Public's Top Priority for 2022: Strengthening the Nation's Economy

What Should Children Learn?

To think for oneself is the most important thing children should learn to prepare them for life, according to the 2021 General Social Survey. Nearly half of Americans aged 18 or older say thinking for oneself is number one...

"If you had to choose, which thing on this list would you pick as the most important for a child to learn to prepare him or her for life?"

1. To think for himself or herself: 46.7% 

2. To work hard: 25.4% 

3. To help others when they need help: 21.0% 

4. To obey: 5.8%

5. To be well-liked or popular: 1.1%

Thinking for oneself has been at the top of this list since the General Social Survey first asked the question 35 years ago in 1986. Back then, a larger 51 percent of the public rated thinking for oneself as the most important thing children should learn. What trait has shaved a few percentage points off of thinking for oneself over the years? Learning to work hard. Working hard rose from fourth place in 1986 (11 percent) to second place in 2021 (25 percent). Learning to help others has also gained over the decades, with 21 percent of respondents in 2021 saying it is the most important thing children should learn—up from 14 percent who felt that way in 1986. Obedience fell to fourth place in 2021 (6 percent), down from second place (23 percent) in 1986. Popularity has never been very popular, ranking last in both 2021 and 1986.

You might think the attitudes of younger and older adults would differ on this question. In fact, there are few differences of opinion. Take a look at the 2021 results...

"If you had to choose, which thing on this list would you pick as the most important for a child to learn to prepare him or her for life?"

	Under 45	45-plus
1. To think for himself or herself	44.6%	49.4%
2. To work hard	25.1	25.2
3. To help others when they need help	24.3	18.2
4. To obey	4.1	6.8
5. To be well-liked or popular	2.0	0.8

Younger adults (under age 45) and older adults (aged 45 or older) both say thinking for oneself is the most important thing children should learn. Not only that, but the rankings are identical for the other four qualities. Hard work is second, helping others is third, obedience is in fourth place and popularity last. 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the 2021 General Social Survey

54,170 Violent Deaths

Here's something for all the doomscrollers out there: 54,170. That's the number of violent deaths in the United States in 2018 (the latest data available), according to the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Yes, there is such a system. The deaths were reported by 39 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

The NVDRS defines a violent death as "a death resulting from the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community." There are five types of violent death: suicide, homicide, legal intervention, unintentional firearm death, and death due to undetermined intent that may have been violence. 

Number (and percent) of violent deaths by type, 2018

Total: 54,170 (100.0%)

Suicide: 34,726 (64.1%)

Homicide: 13,441 (24.8%)

Legal intervention: 764 (1.4%)

Unintentional firearm death: 337 (0.6%) 

Death of undetermined intent: 4,902 (9.0%)

Suicide is by far the leading cause of violent death, accounting for 64 percent of the total. Homicide accounts for another 25 percent. Firearms were used in 48 percent of suicides, 72 percent of homicides, and 90 percent of legal interventions. Among unintentional firearm deaths, nearly half (48 percent) were self-inflicted. Most often these deaths occur when kids (55 percent of the victims of unintentional firearm deaths are under age 25) are playing with a gun (42 percent) or showing a gun to others (15 percent).

The CDC collects and analyzes data on violent deaths for a reason. The data are used to "assist public health authorities in developing, implementing, and evaluating programs, policies, and practices to reduce and prevent violent deaths." 

Source: CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Surveillance for Violent Deaths—National Violent Death Reporting System, 39 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2018

The Five Worst States

State of residence increasingly determines physical and economic wellbeing. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the latest statistics on health insurance coverage. Among the population under age 65, those living in states that refused to expand Medicaid coverage as intended by the Affordable Care Act are much more likely to be without health insurance, according to a National Center for Health Statistics report. 

As of 2020, 35 states had expanded Medicaid coverage to include all adults with incomes up to and including 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In the Medicaid expansion states, only 8.5 percent of people under age 65 were uninsured. 

Fifteen states had not expanded Medicaid coverage as of 2020. In those states, fully 17.1 percent of the population under age 65 was uninsured—double the uninsured rate of the expansion states. These were the holdout states at the time: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Three of these states have expanded Medicaid since 2020—Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

Which states are the worst when it comes to health insurance? These are the top five...

Five states with the largest percentage of uninsured among population under age 65, 2020

24.0% in Oklahoma

23.1% in Texas

20.3% in Georgia

16.9% in North Carolina

16.7% in Florida

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Geographic Variation in Health Insurance Coverage: United States, 2020 (PDF)

Mean Age at First Birth Rises to 27.1 Years

The average age at which women have their first birth climbed to a record high of 27.1 years in 2020, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Mean age at first birth has been rising steadily for decades...

Mean age at first birth, 1970 to 2020

2020: 27.1

2010: 25.4

2000: 24.9

1990: 24.2

1980: 22.7

1970: 21.4

There were a total of 3,613,647 babies born in the United States in 2020—4 percent fewer than in 2019 and the smallest number since 1980. The number of births a woman will have in her lifetime given current age-specific fertility rates also hit a record low in 2020 of just 1.6. As recently as 2009, this figure was more than 2.0. 

Here are some other facts about 2020 births...

• 51.0% of births were to non-Hispanic white women
• 24.0% of births were to Hispanic women
• 15.6% of births were to Black women
•   6.1% of births were to Asian women
• 40.5% of births were to unmarried women
• 31.8% of births were by Cesarean delivery
• 57.2% of mothers were overweight
• 42.0% of deliveries were paid for by Medicaid
• 83.5% of infants were being breastfed at discharge
•   5.5% of women smoked during pregnancy
•   2.0% of pregnancies were the result of infertility treatment

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Births: Final Data for 2020 (PDF)

The Thrill is Gone

By now you've probably heard the news: happiness is on the wane, thanks to the pandemic. Only 19 percent of Americans reported being "very happy" in the winter of 2021—down from 31 percent who felt that way in 2018, according to the General Social Survey. The share who reported being "not too happy" nearly doubled, rising from 13 to 24 percent. 

The General Social Survey is the premier source of data on trends in American attitudes. It has been probing the mindset of a nationally representative sample of the population in most years since 1972 and in every even-numbered year since 1994. The last GSS cross-sectional survey was fielded in 2018. The most recent iteration was scheduled for the spring of 2020. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, however, the survey was delayed and most of the data were collected in 2021. 

"Taken all together, how would you say things are these days—would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?" 2021 (and 2018)

Very happy: 19.4% (30.8%)

Pretty happy: 56.8% (56.4%)

Not too happy: 23.8% (12.7%)

The decline in happiness occurred across the board and to the same degree. In every generation, fewer reported being "very happy" and more reported being "not too happy." 

Another GSS question may reveal one reason for the decline in happiness: life during the pandemic has been less than thrilling. Only 35 percent of the public thought life was "exciting" in 2021, down from the 51 percent majority who felt that way in 2018. 

"In general, do you find life exciting, pretty routine, or dull?" 2021 (and 2018)

Exciting: 35.1% (50.7%)

Routine: 59.3% (45.1%)

Dull: 5.6% (4.2%)

The percentage of respondents who think life is exciting fell in every generation between 2018 and 2021. Millennials were most likely to say the thrill is gone. Only 31 percent of Millennials thought life was exciting in 2021, down from 50 percent who felt that way in 2018—a 19 percentage point drop. Among Gen Xers, 35 percent said life was exciting in 2021 (down from 50 percent in 2018). A larger 38 percent of Boomers said life was exciting in 2021 (down from 48 percent in 2018). Among Americans aged 76 or older, 41 percent said life was exciting in 2021 (down from 54 percent in 2018). 

Note: Older Americans are defined as those born before 1946, Boomers from 1946 through 1964, Gen Xers from 1965 through 1976, and Millennials from 1977 through 1994.

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the 2021 and 2018 General Social Surveys

First-Time Homebuyer Watch: 4th Quarter 2021

Homeownership rate of householders aged 30 to 34, fourth quarter 2021: 48.6%

Homeownership rates in the final quarter of 2021 were little changed from rates in the previous three quarters and well below the levels recorded in 2020—when the coronavirus pandemic greatly reduced the response rate to the Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey and consequently distorted homeownership trends.  

The overall homeownership rate in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 65.5 percent, nearly identical to the rate in the second and third quarters of 2021. The nation's homeownership rate peaked at 69.0 percent in 2004.

The homeownership rate of 30-to-34-year-olds (the age group in which householders typically buy their first home) continued to bobble well below the 50 percent level (the rate was 48.2, 48.0, 48.9, and 48.6 in each of the four quarters of 2021). Except for the 50.1 percent blip in the third quarter of 2020, the homeownership rate of 30-to-34-year-olds has been below 50 percent in every quarter since 2011—the aftermath of the Great Recession. Until 2011, the age group's homeownership rate had never sunk below 50 percent in the data series that began in 1982. 

A sneak peak at the annual homeownership rate for 2021 (the official numbers will be released in March) shows a decline in homeownership in every age group between 2020 and 2021. But the 2020 rates were artificially inflated by the pandemic. Comparing 2021 annual rates to those of 2019 reveals an uptick in most age groups.

Source: Census Bureau, Housing Vacancy Survey