Young women are more liberal than they have been in decades, according to a Gallup analysis of more than 20 years of polling data.

Over the past few years, about 4 in 10 young women between the ages of 18 and 29 have described their political views as liberal, compared with two decades ago when about 3 in 10 identified that way.

For many young women, their liberal identity is not just a new label. The share of young women who hold liberal views on the environment, abortion, race relations and gun laws has also jumped by double digits, Gallup found.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    Topic:

    Women are voting more liberally because they don’t like conservative positions on abortion, guns, and the environment.

    Weird dudes in this thread:

    “Men are being left behind!”

    —-

    Wut.

    • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      A few of the women I work with who are vocal about their politics, will quite firmly point to how conservatives still engage in victim blaming if a woman gets sexually harassed or assaulted, to say nothing of rape/murder, to their reasons for going blue.

      Their reproductive rights being curtailed while men old enough to be their father get viagra covered through their insurance telling them to just shut their legs is just a horrific bonus.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      I understand how abortion and guns can/do have a womens exclusive perspective, but how is the environment a womens issue? By environment you mean things like climate change and pollution, right?

      I can understand how liberals vs progressives would have different views…but I’m not grasping how men vs women would.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        There’s a sense of “Caring about nature is effeminate and for wusses” in toxic masculinity.

        • Throw_away_migrator@lemmy.world
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          28 days ago

          Which I find extremely odd, since some traditionally masculine activities are nature oriented. Hunting, fishing, outdoorsy stuff in general. It wasn’t that long ago that (environmental) conservation was a huge component of those activities to ensure continued access for people to those activities. Maybe it still is but I certainly don’t get that impression as strongly anymore.

          • flicker@lemmy.world
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            28 days ago

            Teddy Roosevelt was a big conservationist. He would’ve happily knocked some heads over the idea he was effeminate for it.

          • Fondots@lemmy.world
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            28 days ago

            I take part in a lot of outdoorsy activities, there’s kind of a split. Lots of conservation-minded folks like myself, and lots of assholes who don’t seem to realize or care that they won’t be able to go hunting, fishing, etc. if they develop over all the woodlands, poison the waterways, etc. and just want an excuse to shoot something or justify their much-larger-than-needed, lifted, coal-rolling truck.

            Also a fair amount of people who don’t feel particularly strongly either way.

            Sales of hunting/fishing licenses and such do end up funding a lot of conservation efforts, though arguably in a lot of cases the money doesn’t necessarily go where it’s most needed.

            The more conservation-minded folks tend to be quieter about their interests and don’t make it their whole personality, they’re usually not the ones posing with a deer or fish in their profile pic.

          • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
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            28 days ago

            In my area the types of guys into outdoorsy stuff also tend to trash their campsites.

            I can’t count the number of times I go hiking and find beer/monster/soda cans, empty beefjerky bags, lead fishing weights that were cut off and left next to the rest of the garbage, piles of empty shotgun shells(not just one or two that were missed or fell out of a pocket), cigarette butt’s and boxes, ect.

            It’s always really shitty to find a part of the forest like that. Especially if I can see where there was tree stand above the pile of garbage. I get that deer are basically overpopulated due to milder winters, but take care of the forest my dudes.

          • Soup@lemmy.world
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            27 days ago

            Weird conservatives have never been know to understand things like “longterm effects” or “treating what they have with any respect”.

            They like buying trucks, guns, and knives. They like showing those things off. Like the “rustic charm” in the memes that are really just about how anti-social they are. They like wearing red and black flannel, camo hats, and acting like they could totally live off the land just because their entire idea of nature is about who’s more violent.

            The people who can name the birds and trees, who gather responsibly, and just like to go for a nice canoe aren’t usually too conservative. Obviously it happens but that requires a level effort and stewardship for the land that’s often incompatible with the personality required to grasp onto conservatism.

          • alienghic@slrpnk.net
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            22 days ago

            Take it up with men and current gender stereotypes.

            “The research, conducted with three other colleagues, consisted of seven experiments involving more than 2,000 American and Chinese participants. We showed that there is a psychological link between eco-friendliness and perceptions of femininity. Due to this “green-feminine stereotype,” both men and women judged eco-friendly products, behaviors, and consumers as more feminine than their non-green counterparts. In one experiment, participants of both sexes described an individual who brought a reusable canvas bag to the grocery store as more feminine than someone who used a plastic bag—regardless of whether the shopper was a male or female. In another experiment, participants perceived themselves to be more feminine after recalling a time when they did something good versus bad for the environment.”

            https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/men-resist-green-behavior-as-unmanly/

            It’s likely using nature is coded as masculine, while showing you care about nature is coded feminine.

        • Maeve@kbin.earth
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          28 days ago

          A lot of people also conflate dominion with domination, in certain faiths.

      • Meron35@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        Burning fossil fuels and polluting is viewed as masculine, whereas caring about the environment is feminine, in a phenomenon sociologists have coined as Petro-masculinity. Think of those men who roll coal in their lifted trucks towards cyclists in lycra, who they view as “gay”.

        Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire - Cara Daggett, 2018 - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305829818775817

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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          28 days ago

          People are weird. I see nothing masculine or anti-masculine about recycling, or driving an electric car.

          Like…it doesn’t even seem related to how tough you are. If anything the really masculine guy would be the one who rides his bicycle everywhere.

          Really built calves. Leg muscles. Able to go 40mph from your legs alone. Isn’t that the real tough guy? Not the guy who gets into a large truck, and slightly presses a pedal downward.

          Like I said. People are weird.

      • Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
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        28 days ago

        I don’t know why either, but in I heard the same thing: more women tend to care not about the environment than men. Anecdotally, a lot of environmental related stores > and groups I go to are a majority women attended or assumed at women.

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        Caring about pollution is associated with wimpy electric cars instead of manly trucks, and the not manly activity of taking transit or cycling, and soyboy diets instead of steaks, and omg electric stoves, etc.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          27 days ago

          And I don’t understand that, because my wimpy electric vehicle will leave your archaic, noisy, pollution belching vehicle in the dust, and will do so in effortless silence

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
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      27 days ago

      Women really need to reevaluate their position on guns. Guns are a self defense tool and a great equalizer that will allow you to defend yourself and your family against a rapist or home invader twice your size and double your strength. Gun rights are women’s rights and empowerment for women.

      • seejur@lemmy.world
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        27 days ago

        Most rapes come from family members. At which point a kitchen knife when they sleep is more than enough

        • kofe@lemmy.world
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          27 days ago

          Imagine telling women who have experienced extreme violence that your solution for them is further violence. I cannot own a gun for my mental health. We can protect everyone by working to prevent violence.

        • Tja@programming.dev
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          27 days ago

          Guns are more likely to cause an accident than be used in protection. Getting a gun decreases your safety.

  • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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    28 days ago

    The conservative postion literally sees you subhuman … Its the conservative women that amaze me … How?

    • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      Because most people run on their personal experiences, and don’t do great when they have to think very far ahead or extrapolate and make connections.

      If you’re lucky enough to be born into a conservative home that’s not bugshit crazy, and you’re lucky enough to not be TOO smart, neurodivergent, gay/lesbian/trans/etc. then you’ve probably never seen the full ugly face of conservatism because you were treated nicely.

      Lots of conservatives will treat you perfectly politely…if they get to know you, and as long as you look white and clean-cut enough. As long as you give the right social signifiers, basically.

      Most of my ex-conservative friends group was driven away from conservative family because we were abused in some obvious fashion, were gay/lesbian/trans, were neurodivergent, etc. We were different in ways that, ultimately, after a lot of pain, forced us to cut ties with family. (It was never our first choice though.)

      But a woman who was lucky to be born into a family that treats her halfway decently won’t experience that sort of ugliness until an emergency happens and it’s leopards-eating-faces time.

      And it’s VERY hard to rock the boat BEFORE something bad happens to you, when you know rocking it will have really bad consequences immediately. People don’t like to be shunned or kicked out of families, so if they’re not treated TOO badly they’ll toe the line and conform out of fear of the unknown and fear of losing everything they have and know.

      • sentientity@lemm.ee
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        28 days ago

        Your last paragraph here is very important. There are massive political implications to these kinds of family and group dynamics.

      • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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        28 days ago

        Thank you for your thoughtful response to my blasé comment about a captain obvious level of Duh from a headline.

    • someguy3@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      They don’t understand that that means inability to get a divorce, not being able to open a bank account, not having the right to vote, etc. The conservatives will say all the polite words like family values which sounds fine.

      • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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        28 days ago

        I mean that kind of trust only works if you’re seen as an equal. Which is hard to come by.

  • Jesus@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    Shocker, when women lose basic reproductive healthcare rights, their views on abortion legislation and conservative politics change significantly.

  • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    28 days ago

    Ignoring the annoying way in which liberal has been re-christened into anything vaguely left-wing in U.S. parlance, this seems hardly surprising since the conservative side seems both anti-young, and anti-woman.

    • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      I don’t want to ignore it. Calling yourself liberal on the environment and gun laws just makes me think you want more polluting industry and more guns.

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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      27 days ago

      Here on Lemmy leftist means communist to some people, but liberal means corporatist Democrat to me.

      Progressive or leftist is what I call myself depending on context. If I’m among a group that will immediately think I mean communist, then I stick with progressive.

      • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        27 days ago

        The thing is, liberal means something rather specific to me - open, against regulations. If you’re socially liberal, I’m probably on board. If your liberal regarding the financial market, we’ll probably disagree.

        I suppose someone who is extremely liberal in all regards following this definition would be what most people in the U.S. would call a libertarian.

        In the end, shouting at clouds about me thinking that people are using words wrong won’t do much, and generally I’m very open to language evolving, but this one always gets me because it’s one region specifically using it differently than what I learned.

        • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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          27 days ago

          Even if you and I disagree slightly on the meaning (I suspect my definition is more colloquial than yours) - I definitely agree with you that it’s applied slapdash against far too broad a segment of society.

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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        27 days ago

        Exactly, liberal means both German center-right CDU and the US Dem mainstream. They are on the same ideology.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
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    28 days ago

    Don’t buy the “tradwife” myth. That’s just six or seven creepy “influencers,” who figured out how to make money from conservative boys dumb enough to think they have a relationship with fake online personalities.

  • LeroyJenkins@lemmy.world
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    27 days ago

    can we stop using Taylor Swift as a spokesperson for all young women? like I’m all for her as a pop singer, but the media gives that billionaire too much clout as a representative of all young women. can’t we just say young women speak for themselves without it requiring a billionaire woman to illustrate something for them?

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      26 days ago

      Also, as a woman about the same age as Ms. Swift, I’m fucking 30. Millennials aren’t young anymore. We’re just regular adults now

  • a9cx34udP4ZZ0@lemmy.world
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    27 days ago

    My .02? There’s a large swath of “conservative” women who like the idea of going to church, being a stay-at-home mom, and having a husband that goes to work every day and provides for them. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that life.

    But what they found out is the guys espousing that lifestyle actually want to treat their wife as property. There was a solid 30 years of momentum building around “maybe I don’t want to have a two-income household, maybe I just want to be a mom”. Unfortunately, while the women were thinking “we’re partners in this household, I take care of the meals and the kids, you take care of making money” - the dudes were thinking “I own you, you do what I want, I do what I want, if you talk back, I’ll put you in your place”.

    • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
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      27 days ago

      I’m a liberal dude who earned enough that my wife could stay at home and raise our kids until corporate greed gave me a one two punch of rapacious price increases (because they could get away with it) and stagnant wages (because they expect me to put up with it). She was doing a lot of work on the household all the time.

      Luckily she went back to work after our kids became much more self sufficient and could participate in taking care of the house.

      Never thought of myself as king of the house.

      (She the Queen, though)

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    Over the past few years, about 4 in 10 young women between the ages of 18 and 29 have described their political views as liberal

    I wonder how the other 6 in 10 young women would describe their political views. While 40% isn’t a majority, I would think liberals are a plurality. Still, it’s a little disheartening that there isn’t a clear majority in the US. It would be nice if a majority of Americans could reach a consensus.

    • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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      27 days ago

      The survey included moderate on the scale so 40% does not mean that 60% are conservative. The article only covered the portion that was liberal or very liberal.

  • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com
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    28 days ago

    Good to hear. I feel they don’t have to gain that much with conservative politics, it’s good to see they’re taking action.

  • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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    27 days ago

    This really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Trump and MAGA came about from disillusionment in politics and the rural working-class feeling left out, with the right sensing an opportunity to say outlandish shit to stand out.

    Today, women are disillusioned because they can’t afford to buy a home, can’t afford basic healthcare like most civilised countries, have zero workplace protections, have zero control over their own reproductive organs, and are lumped into the “DEI” category whenever the right discusses whether they should have opportunities in the workplace.

    I say this every time an American article is posted around the sheer surprise that something is happening. It isn’t new. Trump was preceded by Brexit and the rise of the right in Europe. Thankfully, we’ve also seen the implosion of the right over the last year or two, so if Harris can win then you’ll all be glad to hear that it’ll be a bloodbath of back-stabbing and finger-pointing as the right fight for whatever scraps are left - all while the loser sits on the sidelines shitting on their former allies for having the audacity to succeed them.

    With all that said, it’s a great thing, but hopefully this isn’t just pushed as a women-only thing. Real change needs everyone pushing in the same direction, and that needs real unity - something a good leader can bring.

  • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
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    27 days ago

    Well “conservative” (i.e. “Republican”) has shifted to such a weird place that people who aren’t weird probably feel compelled to call themselves “liberal” (probably meaning they’ll vote for Democrats).

    • pooperNickel@lemm.ee
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      If I could change the way we talk about politics, most labels would go away. Because to me, most people are either “conservative”, or “normal human with opinions”. I am only for using a label for conservatives because they fall in line, every goddamn time. Those motherfuckers basically all support Trump. If you want to be seen as an individual or as having a thought-out point of view, you do not get to support someone for whom a news outlet made a specific database to keep up with their tens of thousands of public lies. You do not get to support someone who brags about becoming a dictator and who praises dictators. I mean even just his history with women is enough, but his actions that ruin millions of lives should be unforgivable and unsupportable for nearly anyone. But they support that. So they don’t get to be individuals. Their support leads to legalized bigotry, suffering, and death. And there are other people, most of whom have at least some defensible views. Conservatives have none that I’m aware of.

    • Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      28 days ago

      Hi, I’m a teacher. The young men I see ‘villainized’ tend to make their own life harder by feeling entitled to money and status without actually trying to achieve anything. Their entitlement then causes them to act in unpleasant ways.

      I don’t see many young men being treated badly simply because of their chromosomes or external genitalia.

       

      yet at every step they’re villainized

      Sounds like you’re saying that if a man goes to the bathroom and washes his hands he is villainized. After all, washing your hands is a step in a procedure.
      You probably don’t mean that. Maybe you are employing hyperbole to make a point. Please explain.

      • Waifu@ani.social
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        Seeing as you’re a teacher, how do you rationalize less men getting into higher education? When boys are performing worse than girls in school, do you just pretend this isn’t statistically and factually happening to them so that you can continue to ignore it’s maybe the signs of a problem.

        Maybe you don’t see it, because you don’t want too?