By Jennifer Watling Neal and Zachary P. Neal
In the 2024 election cycle, voters without children are under the microscope.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has said that “childless cat ladies” and older adults without kids are “sociopaths” who “don’t have a direct stake in this country.”
So it was notable that when pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, she didn’t simply express her support and leave it at that. She also called herself a “childless cat lady.”
Politicians and others often use the word “childless” as an umbrella term for people who do not have children. But as social scientists who study people without children, we know that this doesn’t capture some important nuances.
Using large-scale demographic data, we’ve found that there are many types of nonparents – and each has its own set of political priorities.
The range of nonparents
Only about 3% of Americans are truly childless, or what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls “involuntarily childless.” Most Americans who do not have children are not childless. They are some other type of nonparent. Social scientists often distinguish several types of nonparents:
- Childless people want children but cannot have them due to circumstances such as infertility.
- Not yet parents are people who do not have children yet, but plan to in the future. They tend to be younger.
- Undecided individuals aren’t sure whether they want to have children.
- Child-free people have decided they do not want children now or in the future.
These distinctions matter. When nonparents are combined into a single group, they seem demographically and politically similar to everyone else.
But each type of nonparent is affected by political issues differently. And some issues are especially consequential for child-free people.
The ramifications of Dobbs
Take abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson ended a constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling limited access to reproductive health care in several states and created uncertainty in others.
Some politicians have expressed concerns about the fallout of the Dobbs decision. They’ve pointed to the inability for some not-yet-parents to access reproductive care if complications arise during pregnancy. They’ve also raised the alarm that Dobbs will lead to limits on access to in vitro fertilization for childless couples.
But these concerns are relevant only for people who want to have children. There is usually little talk among politicians and pundits about the importance of reproductive rights for child-free people who do not want to have children.
The share of Michigan adults identifying as child-free rose from 21% before Dobbs to nearly 26% immediately afterward. This increase occurred during a time when there was significant confusion about access to abortion in Michigan because state laws were ambiguous and being challenged in the courts.
Since Dobbs, there has also been a dramatic increase in vasectomies and tubal ligations nationwide. Some of this increase is the result of child-free people now turning to surgery to avoid having children.
Child-free people are overlooked in other areas, too, such as tax policy and in the workplace.
Child-free people pay federal income taxes alongside parents. But both Republican and Democratic presidential platforms have placed a heavy emphasis on expanding the child tax credit, which directly benefits only people who have or will have children. Child-free people work alongside parents. But parental status isn’t a protected category, which could be why child-free people tend to work longer hours and have less leeway to take time off.
Will a new bloc emerge?
Nonetheless, child-free people are primed to play an important role in American politics for several reasons.
First, there are a lot of them.
How many Americans are child-free depends on how you ask them. Data from nationwide face-to-face interviews suggest that around 10% of Americans are child-free. But data from anonymous surveys in Michigan and nationwide peg it at closer to 20% to 25%. If that’s the case, it could mean as many as 50 million to 60 million Americans are child-free.
Second, their numbers are growing. A range of studies suggest that every year, more Americans are reporting that they simply never want to have children.
Third, politicians’ derogatory comments about “childless” people have gotten the attention of child-free people. And they’re starting to organize. For example, Shannon Coulter, the influential activist behind the nonprofit group GrabYourWallet, is bringing them together through the nonpartisan Alliance of Childfree Voters.
It’s too soon to know whether child-free people can be thought of as a distinct voting bloc. But in our research, we found that child-free people in the swing state of Michigan lean liberal. While there are similar numbers of liberal and conservative parents in the state, child-free people who identify as liberal outnumber conservatives 2 to 1.
Given their size, growth, organization and liberal leanings, it may be time for American politicians to think more carefully about how child-free people fit in.
Jennifer Watling Neal is Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. Zachary P. Neal is Associate Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University.
The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
The Geode says
…but “stereotype” the people that vote different than you
JimboXYZ says
Uggghhhhh, “don’t have a direct stake in this country.” ?
Everyone has a stake in this nation, just a different perspective. Those without children are constantly being taxed & forced to raise children they don’t have in one form, way, shape or another. We all pay School taxes, the free program feed the kids thing too. And be a homeowner without kids when the family with juvenile delinquent(s) moves in and the crime rates increase because the children are bored or whatever is their social malfunction for parenting. We all pay the price of admission in that regard, sometimes it’s a tax line item, other times it might be the parents finding more covert ways to pass the buck thru the local government workshops the council holds, even the budgeting process with a flawed model for basis to raise property taxes.
Over the last 4 years, what have been the issues for schools & children ? One is that enrollment was going to be over capacity requiring more school(s) to be built. The sports complex for Westward Palm Coast expansion another. And if anyone thinks the $ 240M STF isn’t being driven by adults with kids vs DINKs/SINKs (dual & single income households with no kids), certainly doesn’t understand that unaffordable housing will have human waste flushing toilets regardless of age demographic & occupancy. Other issues, armed SRO’s at every school with costs of doing that increasing. Some of the news stories that may have been forgotten ? The protests, fighting, threats of mass shootings & bomb threats. There’s something to be said for not having any children, those adults aren’t contributing to the erosion & decline of City of Palm Coast/Flagler County for quality of life. And the sad part is, the enrollment at Flagler County Schools hasn’t happened is perceived as a disappointing trend, when that’s the best news anyone has read about in the last 4 years. The School Board is still going after finding a way to get more money to attract families with children here. Families that won’t pay enough to pay for that growth. I’m fine with other counties getting all the next generation of children, because the burden of paying for it will be elsewhere & on someone else.
Trust me, people will still want to relocate to City of Palm Coast & Flagler County for other reasons to be here beyond raising a family. And they will relocate across every adult age demographic like they always have.
NO, no says
I’m shocked that this is a topic for discussion! It’s no one’s business if you have kids or not, and that is not a marker for the sanity of the adult or ability to contribute to society! Where did this B.S. topic come from and how is it in any way viable for a real conversation?????
The dude says
look at what the Boomers have done to the world. They took the selflessness and sacrifice given them by the greatest generation and made it all about “ME FIRST!!!”
Why would anyone in their right mind want to bring children into this world?
I’ve advised all 5 of my children to not bring children into this world, unless they’re ready to see the ones they love most struggle to live in a warmed, hateful, dystopian world run by olds stuck in the last century, oligarchs, and war mongering morons.
Mary Fusco says
Dude. Funny, I’m 78 so I guess I qualify as a boomer. My husband and I raised 4 children, we bought a home and paid it off, put them through college, never had free lunches at school, never had meals given out in the summer months, never heard of WIC or Medicaid. This was not because we were rich. It was because we had pride and worked our asses off and had priorities. Sometimes after paying bills we had $10 left for the week. We also taught our children that if you want something, you work for it and that nothing in life is free. They taught their children that also. Today’s generation does whatever they feel like because someone else will pay for it. I remember picking up an extra job when I had 2 in college and working 60 hours a week for 8 years. Old people didn’t beg so spare me. I never felt “me first” in my life!
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Well Mary, in 1964 when you were 18 the average cost of a house was $18,900. The median home income was $6600. Tuition to a college in 1964 averaged $243 annually. Minimum wage was $1.15. A gallon of gasoline was $0.30. There was middle class, too.
Today, a home averages $352,000 in palm coast. College costs $9750 on average, per year. Minimum wage is $7.50, federally. A gallon of gas is $3.13. Median home income is about $76,330.
Now, looking at all of those big numbers today might give you the impression that kids these days are just a bunch of whiners and should just lift themselves up by their bootstraps like your generation did and get over it. In 1964, the average home was 2.8 times the annual salary. Today it’s 4.6 times. Tuition was half a month’s salary. Today, it’s a month and a half. Accounting for inflation ($1 in 1964 is worth $10.17 today) even a gallon of gasoline is overpriced. And minimum wage would be at almost $12, just from inflation. There’s practically no middle class, your generation benefited from unions and a whole slew of things that aren’t available to people now in any useful capacity.
So with all of your talk about kids these days just not wanting to work and being freeloaders, I’m willing to bet that you’re freeloading off of them through social security and medicare.
Laurel says
Samuel L. Bronkowitz: Apparently, you don’t realize that us terrible, life ruing people have paid into Social Security and Medicare all our working lives, and we are still paying for your children’s education. Since I have chosen to be childless, I would say I have paid my fair share.
But y’all love to have someone to blame for your choices.
My husband’s mother said ” If you are in the military, and you and you bitch about the officers’ privileges, stop bitching and become an officer. If you are digging a ditch, and you look up and don’t like the foreman looking down at you, become a foreman.”
Now, go ahead and give me excuses. It’s easier.
Chip D says
I hope your kids don’t listen to their old man. I also hope that your parents don’t realize how much you detest them. Sad.
oldtimer says
way to stereotype all “boomers”