Charlie Kirk’s True Legacy May Be A Surge In Young Families

Finally, some good news on the family front.

A growing share of the American people, led by Republicans, believe it is very important that a couple is married when they have a child together.

According to new Gallup polling, roughly four in 10 Americans say it is very important that “couples who have a child together” should be married, a 10-percentage point increase over the past six years.

Among Republicans, there has been a 22-point increase, up to 58% who say marriage is very important for couples with a child. Independents have seen a 9-point increase in that direction, and Democrats have experienced a 3-point increase.

It is encouraging to see more Americans valuing marriage in the way it should be. Given the fact that this uptick has been driven by Republicans, we can attribute this trend in large part to the work that Right-leaning think tanks — like the Institute for Family Studies and the American Enterprise Institute — have done in recent years to spotlight the value of marriage, the ways in which conservative media outlets and voices — like the Daily Wire, Isabel Brown, and Ben Shapiro — have underlined the importance of marriage, and the encouragement that Republican leaders like Vice President J.D. Vance have offered us to “fall in love, get married, and start a family.”

Of course, Charlie Kirk’s life and message were especially important in driving this conservative interest in marriage. Kirk was famous for urging his followers to “Get married. Have children. Build a legacy. Pass down your values. Pursue the eternal. Seek true joy.” Just days before he was killed, on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show, Kirk addressed the decline in marriage and fertility rates, arguing that young women were chasing “careerism and consumerism” instead of what he considered more meaningful goals. “Having children is more important than having a good career … my kids matter more than how many social media followers I have,” he said. Kirk was also a big booster of data showing that women and men who embrace marriage and family life are significantly happier than their peers who are single and childless. The attention he devoted to the cause no doubt played a central role in marriage’s rising popularity among Republicans since 2020.

But as encouraging as this turn in public opinion is, the numbers are only back up to 2013 levels, so there is still room to grow. If more growth is to happen, conservatives can lead the way. Through culture, research, public policy, and leading by example, conservatives can speak clearly about the necessity of married, stable families for the next generation.

First, pro-marriage scholars and policymakers must use the data to make their case. That is the focus of my work at the Get Married Initiative within the Institute for Family Studies: Providing the research and data to show the value of marriage for children, adults, and the nation as a whole. Overwhelmingly, the data show that married men and women are happier and more fulfilled in life. Marriage is linked to better health outcomes and greater life expectancy. It also serves as a powerful motivator for men to get their lives together at work and in their behavior. Married women feel safer and have better sex lives compared to unmarried women.

Children who come from married, stable families do better emotionally and in school than those who do not — they are, for instance, about twice as likely to graduate from college and half as likely to end up in jail or prison. Marriage can even help tackle the housing shortage in a time when more Americans are unsure about whether they can afford to buy a home.

And marriage is a better bet than critics like Andrew Tate — who says most marriages end in divorce — would suggest. Contrary to conventional wisdom, divorce is down since 1980, and most marriages today are predicted to go the distance.

Pro-marriage sentiment is the rare issue that unites all factions of the Right. Conservative podcasters, think tankers, lawmakers, church leaders, and intellectuals — ranging from the classic Right to the new Right — all understand the central role marriage plays in family formation and perpetuating our civilization. Already, conservatives get married at higher rates than liberals, and young conservatives are more likely to desire marriage than their liberal counterparts. Marriage is an important part of the conservative identity, even for those who do not live it out perfectly.

But conservatives can do better. Every conservative family can lead by example to their extended families, churches, communities, schools, and the other social organizations they might be part of.

Leading by example matters for our public leaders as well. As my colleague Lyman Stone shows, peer culture and celebrity culture are both impactful forces on fertility rates. Undoubtedly, a similar dynamic is at play with marriage.

Conservative media personalities, like Kirk and those at the Daily Wire, can play a vital role in promoting marriage simply by talking up the power, beauty, and joy of family life in public and walking the walk in private. It matters when conservative leaders take a pro-marriage position in their commentary. What goes even further is when they have beautiful families for the public to see.

Using data and leading by example must be paired with a pro-marriage policy agenda that strengthens marriage and facilitates family formation. Reforming the tax code, expanding family-oriented tax credits, building more family-friendly starter homes, promoting marriage in schools, and incentivizing marriage prep are some ideas that conservative policymakers should advance in Congress, state houses, and localities across America.

Improving men’s economic prospects to make them more marriageable could also lead to higher marriage rates, as the Institute for Family Studies’ new marriage maps show. Investing in trade school pipelines and male-oriented sectors like manufacturing could improve male employment and earnings. Tackling the vice economy to get men off gambling apps and pot could make a difference as well.

The polling data already indicates that conservatives’ efforts to promote marriage in our culture are working. Scholars, media personalities, and political leaders must keep up the fight if we are to rebuild the American family. This is the best way to honor the “legacy” of Charlie Kirk’s all too short but profoundly pro-family life.

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Brad Wilcox is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Get Married Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies. He is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Get Married Project at the University of Virginia. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.