A new Pew poll finds that Trump voters are FAR more likely (59%) than Biden voters (19%) to say that society should prioritize marriage and having children.
That the rate is higher among Trump voters should not surprise anyone. I’ve definitely noticed a difference in my practice, which focuses on estate planning to grow family power. I’m happy to take anyone as a client who is seriously interested in comprehensive estate planning, but values-based incentive planning is definitely a tougher sell with leftist prospects. Even planning outside the values arena, for example pure tax planning and/or asset protection planning, is a tougher sell to leftist parents if it only benefits the kids and there is nothing in it for the parents. That could describe pretty much all estate planning as kids obviously benefit the most (although often the surviving spouse can benefit as well). But comprehensive planning for more benefit is more expensive than the cookie cutter planning leftist parents have in mind. That’s what I see typically, but of course there are exceptions.
So yes, I’ve noticed a difference in my practice and probably no one is surprised there is a difference, but the magnitude of that difference according to this poll, 59% to 19%, is jaw-dropping!
There are some additional surprises in the data. For example, support for marriage and having children is significantly higher among men than women, even among Trump supporters, not what you would expect since marriage and children traditionally protect women, and women are typically the main driver or motivator in terms of getting estate planning done. (We men think we live forever, apparently.)
Also, support for marriage and family is apparently a bit higher among whites than among hispanics or asians, despite the family-centric reputation of those ethnic groups.
Another interesting data point is that college education makes a Trump supporter more likely to support marriage and family, but college education makes a Biden supporter LESS likely to support marriage and family. Which begs the question, what exactly were they doing in college?
The same poll also looked at how Biden and Trump supporters differ on our historically low and declining birth rate (lowest in 100 years). About the same percentage of Biden supporters think that’s a good thing, as think it’s a bad thing. Among Trump supporters, the percentage who think declining birth rate is a bad thing is much higher. Not a big surprise there. Again, the data on women is surprising as they are closer to the view of Biden voters that declining birth rate is not such a bad thing, despite the historical role of family and children in protecting women.
Final note: all of this should be very concerning to my estate planning colleagues. Although many of them are conservative, many of them are not (remember we are not only lawyers, but many of us are former litigators and TAX lawyers) and especially many of the younger ones support the woke agenda, even to the point of canceling conservatives who voice opposition to that agenda or simply try to discuss solutions of interest to conservative clients.
Woke estate planners are destroying their own industry. If you are the parent of a woke estate planner, please consider disinheriting “them”!
