Are social issues really more important than economic/security issues?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Well, the questions you are asking are different.

Voting a certain way because of social issues is not the same as just voting out of emotion. It may be difficult for a straight white man to understand, because social issues don't actually affect you in any way at all so emotional concerns are all that matter, but to everyone else, "social issues" come down, in many ways, to the core of who they are.

A straight white man hears chatter about abortion, gays, etc. and has an armchair reaction but can pretty much go to sleep at night no matter what happens with these issues at the end of the day.

A gay person hears chatter about laws that will permit businesses to discriminate against her and has to struggle with the idea that her quality of life is actually on the line.

Why have things changed? In the 1970s, fewer of these people felt like they had the social capital to stand up for themselves and their causes didn't really gain traction. Today there's been a snowball effect: The people whose lives hang in the balance as a result of "social issues" have organized into strong activist communities and voting blocs and have actually managed to insert themselves into a more inclusive modern pop culture. So even the normies feel the moral prerogative to be allies... as anyone with any decency should.