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Opinion: Pew report shows the voter values divide between supporters of Trump, Biden

AP File Photo/Rogelio V. Solis / An anti-abortion supporter sits behind a sign that advises the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic is still open in Jackson, Mississippi, Wednesday, July 6, 2022.
AP File Photo/Rogelio V. Solis / An anti-abortion supporter sits behind a sign that advises the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic is still open in Jackson, Mississippi, Wednesday, July 6, 2022. AP File Photo/Rogelio V. Solis / An anti-abortion supporter sits behind a sign that advises the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic is still open in Jackson, Mississippi, Wednesday, July 6, 2022.


A new Pew Research Center report may provide some indication of why people who have great reservations about voting for Donald Trump for president may yet decide to do so. They just can’t see themselves aligning with President Joe Biden and Democrats on issues related to marriage, traditional values, abortion, sexuality and the role of religion in American life.

The report, “Cultural Issues and the 2024 Election,” reveals that only 19% of Biden supporters believe “society is better off if people make marriage and having children a priority,” 77% of Biden supporters believe the country’s declining birth rate is either neutral or positive, 88% of Biden backers want to see abortion “legal in most cases” or “all cases,” 59% of Biden supporters agree that “whether a person is a man or woman can be different” from their sex, 66% of Biden backers are “comfortable” with gender-neutral pronouns, and 88% of Biden supporters believe “same-sex marriage being legal in the United States is either “good” for society or “neither good nor bad.”

Whew!

Since around two-thirds of the U.S. population was born before 2000, after which many of the above trends gained more ground, it is not surprising that many Americans are uncomfortable with cultural changes foist upon them that diverge from those considered acceptable in the country’s first 200-plus years of existence.