By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

A new survey by polling giant Gallup, Inc. has discovered a surprising new surge in the number of young adults who say the government should “promote traditional values.

CNSNews.com is reporting that Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are now more likely than older Americans to say government should promote traditional values.

In the most recent survey conducted Sept. 8-11, Gallup polled 1,017 Americans age 18 and older and found that 53 percent said they think government should promote traditional values.

This percentage is considerably higher than the 38 percent who thought government should promote traditional values in a similar poll conducted in September of 2008, just two months before the election of President Barack Obama.

Since the election, however, the number of young people calling for a return to traditional values has been polling steadily upward. Last year, 47 percent wanted traditional values promoted, which makes this year’s percentage an all-time high.

“The reason for these shifts in views by age is unclear,” said Gallup in its own analysis of the survey.  “They neither track with changes in respondents’ overall political ideology – the percentages of each group labeling themselves ‘conservative’ have held fairly steady over the same period – nor do they parallel approval of the president.”

However, Gallup’s weekly approval rating polling does show an erosion of support for the president from young Americans. Among those 18 to 29 years of age, Oama’s approval has dropped 28 points, from 75 percent the week he was inaugurated in January 2009 to 47 percent last week.

It’s too early to tell whether the recent surge is permanent, but future polling in this area will be interesting to watch because, as Gallup states, “Normally the views of young people are on the leading edge of social change.”

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