A new poll finds that -- no big surprise -- Americans remain incredibly conflicted about abortion. This is especially interesting:
The survey devoted particular attention to the views of young adults. It noted that 18-to-29-year-olds are far more likely than their elders to support same-sex marriage, but found there is no comparable generation gap regarding abortion.
In addition to its many new findings, the survey tracked other polls over the past 12 years to highlight a sharp discrepancy in attitudes toward the two most prominent hot-button issues of the culture wars.
Views on abortion have been stable, with 56 percent of Americans telling Gallup pollsters this year that it should be legal in most or all cases compared to 57 percent who said that in 1999. In contrast, support for same-sex marriage has surged - from 35 percent in 1999 to 53 percent in 2011, according to Pew Research Center polls.
A key factor in that discrepancy relates to attitudes of the so-called millennials between the ages of 18 and 29.
"Millennials strongly support gender equality and rights for gay and lesbian people," the survey said. "However ... younger Americans are no more supportive of abortion rights than the general population."
This isn't surprising, or at least it shouldn't be. Same-sex marriage is one of those hot-button social issues about which we should expect young people, who generally follow their emotional instincts, to be more tolerant than their elders. Some of them will adopt more traditional views as they get older, but many will not -- this country is trending more gay-tolerant all the time.
Abortion, on the other hand, is a life-or-death issue. Gay marriageis an issue about which it is possible to say, "Well, it gives some people freedom without taking away anything from anybody else." It is not possible to say that about abortion. We may differ on whether a fetus is human life or potential human life, but there's no getting around their intentional destruction. That's not something about which people's attitudes are likely to "evolve."
