A June 2026 report from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) titled “The Ideological Fertility Divide” finds that liberal Americans both have and desire fewer children than conservatives, based on responses from more than 7,000 U.S. adults ages 18–54.
What the report says
According to IFS, conservative adults in the sample reported an average of 1.40 children, compared with 1.09 for liberals — a difference the report frames as conservatives having 28% more children than liberals within the surveyed age range. IFS also reports statistically significant gaps in ideal family size: conservatives averaged 2.71 desired children versus 2.16 for liberals.
Parenting worries differed by ideology
IFS links part of the gap to higher concerns about parenting among liberals. When asked whether they would be a good parent, 18% of liberals were unsure, compared with 9% of conservatives, according to the report. A larger share of liberals (36%) described parenting as “very complicated, difficult, and stressful,” versus 24% of conservatives.
Concerns extended to health and heredity: 18% of liberals, compared with 10% of conservatives, said they worried about passing on “bad genes” or hereditary conditions. And 19% of liberals versus 10% of conservatives said their current mental health was too poor to have children. IFS notes that these concerns are associated with having fewer children. “Given that both beliefs are associated with fewer children, their increased prevalence among liberals may help explain the ideological fertility gap,” the report states.
Age range context
The averages reflect a broad 18–54 age band that includes many young adults. The source text cites U.S. Census Bureau estimates from December 2025 placing median marriage ages at 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, which may help explain why some respondents had not yet started families.
