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Why the Babies (and the Voters) Might Be Moving Right
American Thinker ^ | November 17, 2025 | Brian C. Joondeph

Posted on 11/17/2025 3:47:05 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

Politics may be downstream from culture, but culture is downstream from cribs. 

In the U.S. and across the West, who’s having children today will shape who’s running the country tomorrow. In the U.S. and other Western democracies, shifts in fertility, family structure, migration, and well-being are quietly redrawing the political map.

Start with the simplest but most potent fact: elections are not won by ideas alone, but by people. This means new people - babies born, children raised, immigrants integrated, voters replaced.

As conservative commentator Grant Mercer recently put it in his article “Womb Wars: The Future Belongs to Conservatives,” the left may be fighting for ideas, but if it fails to reproduce the next generation, it may already be losing the people for whom those ideas exist.

babies illustration

Image generated by ChatGPT

Let’s unpack three linked claims: first, that children tend to adopt their parents’ politics; second, that conservatives are having more children than liberals; and third, that well-being (happiness, mental health, family satisfaction) matters for childbearing.

Do children follow their parents politically? Yes, to a meaningful but not a monolithic degree. Research shows that children raised in households where politics, values, and community life are strong are more likely to adopt similar ideological orientations. 

For example, Pew Research Center found that most U.S. parents say they pass along both religion and politics to their children. Others noted that the more politically engaged the parents, the stronger the correlation. 

While many children diverge, the parental imprint remains powerful. So, Mercer’s claim that children are “more likely” to follow parental politics has a real basis, though the word “more likely” must be carefully qualified -- it’s probable, but not guaranteed.

Are conservative-leaning women having more children than...

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: children

1 posted on 11/17/2025 3:47:05 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’m an optimist by nature; but I don’t know how powerful the ‘parental imprint’ will remain against modern media and our abysmal public education system.


2 posted on 11/17/2025 3:53:13 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Not with this porous border.


3 posted on 11/17/2025 3:54:00 PM PST by Ingtar
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To: Ingtar

The border is no longer porous


4 posted on 11/17/2025 3:56:27 PM PST by Fai Mao (I used to care, but things have changed ~ Bob Dylan)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Keep your children out of college if you want them to remain conservative.


5 posted on 11/17/2025 5:01:05 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (No Jesus. No Peace.... Know Jesus. Know peace.)
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To: Ingtar

Most of the people coming (or who came) from Central America are actually quite conservative also.


6 posted on 11/17/2025 5:22:25 PM PST by bigdaddy45
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Only if people stop sending their children to public schools.


7 posted on 11/17/2025 6:22:56 PM PST by yuleeyahoo (“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” - the deep-state)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Keep your children out of college if you want them to remain conservative.

Yep. Better off learning a trade.

8 posted on 11/17/2025 6:24:58 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: Jamestown1630

Truer words as they say


9 posted on 11/17/2025 7:02:43 PM PST by redangus (With the Left there is no debate, there's just hate.)
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