Backround Research
The question we are investigating is whether or not there is a difference in the mean number of children per family based on political affiliation of the parents. This question implies that there may be a relationship between political and family values. Influential factors may include religion, views on abortion, views on contraception, sexual orientation and marriage rates. An article by foreignpolicy.com states that there may be a connection between political affiliation and family size based on geographical areas. In relation to the 2004 presidential election, there was a significant difference in fertility over states. It says, “Among states that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004, fertility rates are 12 percent higher than in states that voted for Sen. John Kerry.” (Longman, Phillip) However, the study does not state whether there were extraneous factors that affected the fertility rates such as geographical regions. Studies consistently show that there is a somewhat substantial gap in the number of children produced in Conservative families as compared to the amount in Liberal families. One study, conducted in 2004 by the General Social Survey, randomly sampled 200 people, with 100 being liberal and 100 being Conservative. Out of those that were Liberal, 147 children were produced in total, and in Conservative Adults, 208 were produced in total. The gap amounted to nearly 41%, and even when the results were adjusted for extraneous factors like age and yearly income, there was still a striking 19% difference in the amount of children produced. (Haddock, Vicki) Research also indicates that religion is a contributing factor for both Conservatives and Liberals. For Conservatives, higher proportions tend to have a greater inclination to practice Catholicism. One may not see why this would make an impact, but research shows that religious practices make a substantial difference. Only 18% of Catholics are liberal, which really makes a difference. ("U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.") Firstly, many sects of Christianity condemn birth control, as God tells them to ‘go forth and multiply’. They see birth control as a restraint of God’s will in some cases. Along with this, the Vatican bans abortion for its followers. These two factors could possibly contribute to the higher amount of children in Conservative families. In contrast, Liberal women tend to wait for a longer period of time before having children, and more of them are pro-choice, along with continual use of contraceptives in that group. (Sanandaji, Tino) Other religions may also affect the number of children in a family. Currently, 60% of all Mormons are conservative. In addition, 71% of all Mormons are married. Furthermore, 49% of Mormons of any age have at least one child. ("U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.") Only 20% of people not affiliated with religion are conservative. In addition, only 33% of the unaffiliated have children at all. These statistics, although we cannot draw a conclusion, suggest that there is likely a difference in the mean number of children produced by Conservative and Liberal families. ("U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.") Many variables contribute to our hypothesis. It is only logical that if two groups are analyzed, with one constraining the amount of children produced, and the other heavily advocating that people have children, that one group will have significantly less children in total.