Also, studies have generally hinted that the causation here goes the other way: if you have kids, you are likelier to become a loony hard-right evangelical. You don't necessary start out that way.
So what is it about having kids that causes people's brains to melt?
Parenting makes people more risk-averse.
It has been going along long enough that most people my age or younger would be Republican, not Democratic. Just because your parents have a certain set of beliefs doesn't mean that you do. For example, all of my sister in laws come from very Republican families (one family are wealthy Coptic Christians, another are crazy border patrol people from the only conservative/moderate area in Vermont, and the last one from rural Central Nebraska) even though they are all liberals of varying degrees.
Kind of a non sequitur. This thread is about parents and why they lean Republican. I never suggested that their children would also lean Republican.
I will suggest it. Politics are highly heritable, and we understate this fact because the rebellious types are both louder and disproportionately interesting people. (e.g., Politicians themselves are more likely to have politics independent of their parents.) But in the vast majority of cases (i.e., the ones that matter in a popular election), children will vote as their parents did, at least relative to the national average. The fact Republicans out-breed Democrats will be highly significant.
