The Real Reason for Marriage Polarization

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here.

Serious relationships are full of practical concerns. I’ve known loving couples who were unable to tie the knot despite their affection for each other, because of disagreements about whether to have children or about religious conversion, or because of divergent professional aspirations. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you might like them to, and it’s no one’s fault.

There are also many loving couples who get married despite significant differences. The Washington Post editorial board is concerned that this isn’t happening enough. One reason they are concerned is that there is a growing political gender divide, particularly among young Americans, with young men becoming more conservative and young women shifting left.

Fearing a “collapse of American marriage,” the recently editorialized that a “cultural