Given the increasingly polarized nature of political discourse in recent years, and especially given the votes for Brexit and Donald Trump, it is tempting to believe that society has become more conservative. Alas, research from New York University suggests the opposite is actually the case, and we are more liberal than we’ve ever been, with liberalism truly marching forward since the 1990s.
The researchers assessed a range of hot-button topics, from race and sexuality to gender and personal liberty, and finds that Americans are more liberal on all of them than they were in the 1970s. They explain, however, that this trend is often masked by views on controversial topics, such as abortion and gun ownership, which haven’t changed much in the same timeframe.
“America is a more liberal country now than it was 50 years ago,” the researchers say. “But its politics do not reflect this because polarizing attitudes and behaviors changed less than either values or lifestyles.”
Changing attitudes
The researchers used data from the General Social Survey, which has been collecting nationally representative data on 300 or so variables aligned with our attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs, since 1972. Participants were divided into 32 age-based cohorts, each spaced a couple of years apart.
The data showed that each cohort was more liberal than the one before it, with 62% of variables found to be more liberal in more recent cohorts than in the oldest ones. By contrast, just 5% were found to have gotten more conservative in that time. What’s more, each cohort was found to become more liberal throughout the study period.
Among the biggest shift were in areas such as gay rights and civil liberties for atheists. There has also been a significant liberalization of attitudes on racial issues too, however, which the authors speculate might be due to the growth in Asian and Latinx populations in the US.
“Such consistently liberal results are surprising given conservatives’ many wins in elections, legislation, and policy during this time,” the researchers say. “While issues like sexual freedom and gender roles may be part of political identities, the liberal trends observed are mainly private matters—and neither candidates nor policies address them as directly as they do other issues.”
The authors note, however, that some of the biggest changes in attitude occurred in areas that were little to do with one’s political ideology. For instance, Americans of all stripes were found to read newspapers less than they did, with this decline especially strong between 2000 and 2018.
