Gallup: Share of Americans who say parents should marry returns to 2013 level

The share of Americans who say couples with children should marry has risen sharply since 2020, returning to its highest level in 13 years, according to a Gallup report released Aug. 7. 

Thirty-nine percent of Americans said it is “very important” for a couple with a child together to legally marry, up from 29% in 2020 and about equal to the 38% recorded in 2013. The figure had declined steadily after 2006, when Gallup first asked the question and 49% said marriage was very important. 

Gallup based the findings on telephone interviews conducted May 1-17 with a random sample of 1,001 adults across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Another 24% said marriage is “somewhat important” when a couple has a child, bringing the total who consider it at least somewhat important to 63%. Seventeen percent said marriage is “not too important,” while 19% said it is “not important at all.” One percent had no opinion.

The increase was driven primarily by Republicans, according to Gallup. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans said marriage is very important when a couple has a child, a 22-point increase from 2020. The share among independents rose nine points, from 30% in 2020 to 39%, in the latest data, while the figure among Democrats remained largely unchanged at 21%.

Weekly churchgoers recorded one of the largest shifts among the demographic groups Gallup examined. Sixty-five percent said marriage is very important for couples with children, up from 41% in 2020. The share of married adults who held that view rose 16 points from 2020 to 53%, while views among unmarried adults remained largely unchanged at 29%.

Older adults have been consistently more likely than younger adults to consider marriage very important for couples with children, according to Gallup. Since 2020, support for marriage has increased among adults ages 18 to 29 and those 50 and older but has not changed significantly among adults ages 30 to 49.

The findings mark the first time in Gallup’s two decades of polling on the issue that Americans placed slightly greater importance on marriage for couples who have a child than for couples who intend to spend their lives together. Thirty-seven percent said marriage is very important for couples planning to remain together for life, statistically unchanged from 38% in 2020.

Forty-five percent of Americans raised by both parents in the same household said marriage is very important for couples with children, compared with 24% of those raised in other family arrangements.

According to the poll, 82% of Americans said their parents were married when they were born, down from 92% in 2006. Sixty-seven percent said they were raised by both parents in the same household, down from 75% two decades ago. Those experiences varied substantially by age: 56% of adults ages 18 to 34 said they were raised by both parents in one household, compared with 80% of adults ages 55 and older.

The shift coincided with a decline in the share of Americans who consider having a child outside marriage morally acceptable. That figure fell from 66% in 2020 to 58% this year, including a decline from 61% to 44% among Republicans.

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