Social issues in the US: late 1990s vs. late 2010s

[EJ24]

I ask this question because we saw the country shift to the right in regards to many social issues post-9/11. What was it like before then?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Abortion has become more polarized - moved to the left in more liberal states, and to the right in more conservative states - but overall is about the same as it was then.  In-between then and now, opinion was a bit more pro-life for a while.

On every other issue, the US has become more socially liberal, in some ways that would have been unimaginable. 

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Abortion has become more polarized - moved to the left in more liberal states, and to the right in more conservative states - but overall is about the same as it was then.  In-between then and now, opinion was a bit more pro-life for a while.

On every other issue, the US has become more socially liberal, in some ways that would have been unimaginable. 

[darklordoftech]

Europe has definitely become more socially conservative, but I’m not sure about America. The mid-to-late 90s in America were definitely more socially conservative than the 80s and early 90s.

[afleitch]

Interesting nugget; interracial marriage only received plurality support in 1991 with Gallup and majority support as late as 1997.

[Lechasseur]

Europe has definitely become more socially conservative, but I’m not sure about America. The mid-to-late 90s in America were definitely more socially conservative than the 80s and early 90s.

I'm not convinced Europe actually became more conservative. It's just it didn't move left on the social issues anywhere to the degree the US did.

And also with Europe voting more right-wing than it did in the 90s, I think that's more about the parties on average having shifted left (on social issues; right on econ) (this is on average of course, it isn't the case for every single country or party) when the population as a whole didn't change much; rather than it being about Europeans really having become more conservative if you see what I mean.

That being said, I think Gen Z will be the European equivalent of the US millenials.

[Lechasseur]

And to answer the question asked here, the US is obviously way more liberal now, and I think that's actually the main reason the two parties radicalized so much.

The Democrats because they can get away with it to a degree they couldn't even just 15 years ago, and the GOP because their voters really don't like the liberalism.

[Skill and Chance]

And to answer the question asked here, the US is obviously way more liberal now, and I think that's actually the main reason the two parties radicalized so much.

The Democrats because they can get away with it to a degree they couldn't even just 15 years ago, and the GOP because their voters really don't like the liberalism.

There's a popular historical/psychological argument that fear of contagious disease motivates social conservatism, so it will be interesting to see if there is a shift back to the right over the next couple of years. 

However, this theory would have predicted the US right being very concerned about COVID-19 and supporting aggressive measures while the left focuses on pushing back against restrictions on civil liberties.  At least in the US, the opposite has happened.  While the divide in the general population is much less than the divide among very online pundit types, it's enough to throw the whole theory into doubt IMO.

[darklordoftech]

And to answer the question asked here, the US is obviously way more liberal now, and I think that's actually the main reason the two parties radicalized so much.

The Democrats because they can get away with it to a degree they couldn't even just 15 years ago, and the GOP because their voters really don't like the liberalism.

There's a popular historical/psychological argument that fear of contagious disease motivates social conservatism, so it will be interesting to see if there is a shift back to the right over the next couple of years. 

However, this theory would have predicted the US right being very concerned about COVID-19 and supporting aggressive measures while the left focuses on pushing back against restrictions on civil liberties.  At least in the US, the opposite has happened.  While the divide in the general population is much less than the divide among very online pundit types, it's enough to throw the whole theory into doubt IMO.

I think the fear of disease motivating social conservatism is particularly true with STDs, and COVID-19 isn’t an STD.

[Skill and Chance]

And to answer the question asked here, the US is obviously way more liberal now, and I think that's actually the main reason the two parties radicalized so much.

The Democrats because they can get away with it to a degree they couldn't even just 15 years ago, and the GOP because their voters really don't like the liberalism.

There's a popular historical/psychological argument that fear of contagious disease motivates social conservatism, so it will be interesting to see if there is a shift back to the right over the next couple of years. 

However, this theory would have predicted the US right being very concerned about COVID-19 and supporting aggressive measures while the left focuses on pushing back against restrictions on civil liberties.  At least in the US, the opposite has happened.  While the divide in the general population is much less than the divide among very online pundit types, it's enough to throw the whole theory into doubt IMO.

I think the fear of disease motivating social conservatism is particularly true with STDs, and COVID-19 isn’t an STD.

There's some evidence it can be.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Interesting nugget; interracial marriage only received plurality support in 1991 with Gallup and majority support as late as 1997.

If the original Star Wars had tried to bring in interracial romance between Lando and Princess Leia, there would have been boycotts of the show.

[progressive85]

The late 90s had a lot of cultural change due to the Internet's influences - the last five years on the other hand have not seen much dramatic change in the everyday culture of the country.

[cris01us]

The U.S. is leaps and bounds more socially and economically liberal now, than it was even in 1999.  I can't think of a serious "culture war battle" that the Left has lost since the 90s.  LGBT in the military, marriage act, trans issues, abortion issues (as a whole), social programs, college campus take overs, military reduction during Obama, voting laws, and on and on and on....Other than tax issues I fail to see any GOP victories in the past 22 years. I seriously wonder where the magical "finish line" is for the Democratic Party.  When we look like a Western European Country?

[Dr. MB]

The U.S. is leaps and bounds more socially and economically liberal now, than it was even in 1999.  I can't think of a serious "culture war battle" that the Left has lost since the 90s.  LGBT in the military, marriage act, trans issues, abortion issues (as a whole), social programs, college campus take overs, military reduction during Obama, voting laws, and on and on and on....Other than tax issues I fail to see any GOP victories in the past 22 years. I seriously wonder where the magical "finish line" is for the Democratic Party.  When we look like a Western European Country?

When we look like an Eastern European country

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The U.S. is leaps and bounds more socially and economically liberal now, than it was even in 1999.  I can't think of a serious "culture war battle" that the Left has lost since the 90s.  LGBT in the military, marriage act, trans issues, abortion issues (as a whole), social programs, college campus take overs, military reduction during Obama, voting laws, and on and on and on....Other than tax issues I fail to see any GOP victories in the past 22 years. I seriously wonder where the magical "finish line" is for the Democratic Party.  When we look like a Western European Country?

You don't see any Republican victories on voting laws? Really?

[Beet]

Except on LGBT issues, I don't see any areas where conservatives haven't won since the late 1990s.

As far as guns, in the late 1990s assault weapons were banned, concealed carry was considered the edgy gun rights cause, and gun sales had been steadily declining. Now? Gun sales are over twice as high, concealed carry is merely the baseline with "stand your ground" increasingly becoming the norm, and background checks are impossible despite regular shootings, let alone an assault weapons ban.

As far as abortion rights, hundreds of new abortion restrictions have been passed and we've gone from a 6-3 moderate majority on the Supreme Court to a 5-4 conservative majority.

As far as immigration, in the late 1990s ICE didn't even exist and the Flores Agreement was coming into place. Conservatives didn't even try to argue against legal immigration, in fact they claimed to love it, and only opposed illegal immigration. Today it's s complete police state and everything is shut down.

20 years ago conservatives were celebrating recent wins in bringing back to death penalty and mass incarceration, as well as prosecuting the war on drugs. Today every single one of those elements is still there.

[darklordoftech]

Columbine definitely pushed things in a more conservative direction, and that conservatism only started to reverse in 2014.

[cris01us]

You don't see any Republican victories on voting laws? Really?

The GOP goal has been for strict voting enforcement, i.e. ID requirements, pre-registration, systematic review of the voter rolls, etc..  To my knowledge this hasn't been an area where they have dominated, or been able to claim a preponderance of victories.  All the GOP has been able to do is purge the rolls from time to time in a few states, which isn't exactly anything but annoying.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Except on LGBT issues, I don't see any areas where conservatives haven't won since the late 1990s.

As far as guns, in the late 1990s assault weapons were banned, concealed carry was considered the edgy gun rights cause, and gun sales had been steadily declining. Now? Gun sales are over twice as high, concealed carry is merely the baseline with "stand your ground" increasingly becoming the norm, and background checks are impossible despite regular shootings, let alone an assault weapons ban.

As far as abortion rights, hundreds of new abortion restrictions have been passed and we've gone from a 6-3 moderate majority on the Supreme Court to a 5-4 conservative majority.

As far as immigration, in the late 1990s ICE didn't even exist and the Flores Agreement was coming into place. Conservatives didn't even try to argue against legal immigration, in fact they claimed to love it, and only opposed illegal immigration. Today it's s complete police state and everything is shut down.

20 years ago conservatives were celebrating recent wins in bringing back to death penalty and mass incarceration, as well as prosecuting the war on drugs. Today every single one of those elements is still there.

Immigration is much more popular today that it was in the 90s.  But under Trump our government is more restrictive than popular opinion on the issue, whereas under previous presidents it was less so.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/1660/immigration.aspx

Many states are doing things to decrease incarceration, decriminalize drugs, and end the death penalty.  Republicans have been running promoting criminal justice reform in their campaigns in the past decade in a way even few Democrats would have in the 90s.