LIBERAL BABY BUST: Leftists aren't having kids over mental health, stress while conservatives keep forming families: IFS study

American liberals are having fewer babies than conservatives, according to data from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS). The trend also remains even after controlling for other variables. Leftists are citing concerns over their mental health or stress when reporting on why they are choosing not to reproduce.

According to the report from IFS, conservatives have 1.4 children on average while those that are liberal have 1.09 children. 51 percent of people who identify as liberal report having no children compared to 40 percent for conservatives. The report was based on survey results from 7,000 Americans ages 18-54. The figures were statistically significant when sex, religion, race, income, age, marital status, and education were all taken into account.

Those that are liberal are more likely to cite "certain anxieties related to fertility decisions relative to conservatives," the report from IFS states. The findings also bear out when liberals and conservatives are asked about the ideal size of their family irrespective of how many children they have.

Liberals are more likely to cite mental health, bad genetics, and the stress of being a parent for reasons that they do not want to have children. When it came to mental health, 18 percent of liberals said that was a concern versus 10 percent of conservatives. 

"18% of liberals are unsure whether they would be a good parent, compared to only 9% of conservatives. Similarly, whereas 36% of liberals view parenting as 'very complicated, difficult, and stressful,' only 24% of conservatives do," the report from IFS stated. 

Conservatives on average say that the ideal family size is 2.71 children, moderate say 2.43, while liberals on average want 2.16 on average. The report noted that the partisan gap has only grown after 1994, meaning that the ideological divide over how many kids to have is a recent phenomenon.

The Trump administration has taken the position of being pro-family even as there has been a drop in fertility rates across the country. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha have urged Americans to have more children as they themselves have welcomed their fourth child while Vance is in office. Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has also been open about having another baby has announced that she's leaving her position to raise her children.

On the other side of the political divide, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently ended her long-term engagement and publicized her process of freezing her eggs in an attempt to preserve her waning fertility. The 37-year-old made a series of social media videos about the process of egg harvesting and the associated costs but did not indicate whether or not or when she may decide to have children.

In addition to the image of the administration being more pro-family, policy choices have been aimed at incentivizing childbearing. Trump signed an executive order to expand IVF access and the "Trump accounts" have been introduced to invest in the future of the next generation of children.