Young women are in an abusive relationship with Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is losing many of its core constituencies, including blacks and Hispanics, but not young women. They have become its most reliable demographic.

Former President Donald Trump has been discussing why women should vote for him.

“Women are poorer than they were four years ago,” Mr. Trump explained. “They are also more stressed, and depressed and unhappy,” but “I will fix all of that.”

True, but it’s unlikely to affect millennial and Generation Z women, who have been conditioned to think a certain way.

According to Gallup, from 2001 to 2007, 28% of women 18 to 29 identified as liberal. Today, the figure is 40%, compared with 25% of the general population. Men in the same age group have become more conservative.

Several factors have contributed to this leftward drift.

More women than men are in college – indoctrination central, especially for those with majors such as gender and Middle Eastern studies. Today, 58% of undergraduates in the U.S. are women, compared with 42% in the 1970s.

The marriage rate for women has never been lower, and the fertility rate is falling through the floor.

For women and men, marriage and children contribute to maturity and stability. Suddenly, you’re responsible for someone other than yourself.

In 1967, only 15% of women and 25% of men 18 to 25 had never been married. Today, those figures are 80% and 75%, respectively.

The fertility rate – the number of children the average woman will have in her lifetime – has fallen from 2.54 in 1970 to 1.78 today, well below the population replacement level of 2.1. More than half of childless young women say they never intend to have children.

For many young women, the government has replaced a husband and family.

The government is their protector and provider. Democratic administrations affirm their lifestyle choices, especially regarding disposing of inconvenient lives. For Vice President Kamala Harris, this includes allowing a baby who has survived an abortion to die on the operating table.

Instead of influencing the lives of their children, Democratic damsels want to satisfy their maternal instinct by shaping society. Disproportionate numbers favor social engineering — including higher taxes, increased economic regulation, gun confiscation and environmental extremism.

You’ll find them at the forefront of every progressive cause, from support for racial quotas to demands for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. With grim determination, they march, waving their placards.

Yet liberal policies are clearly against their interests. Under the Biden-Harris administration, violent crime (including rape, robbery and aggravated assault) increased 40%, after going down 15% when Mr. Trump was president.

The current administration has encouraged lawlessness by refusing to prosecute political violence – from the George Floyd riots to pro-Hamas demonstrations – undermining the police and open borders.

Every week brings another story of a woman raped and killed by an illegal immigrant or attacked by a homeless man with a mental disorder. Besides shielding illegal aliens, Democratic sanctuary cities encourage homeless encampments, magnets for addiction and mental illness.

Support for transgenderism is an essential condition of “woke” liberalism.

Forcing female athletes to compete with biological males is destroying women’s sports. Allowing men who claim to be women to use ladies’ rooms puts women at risk. In jail, female prisoners have been assaulted by fellow inmates who identify as transgender.

Women are subjected to the same economic pressures as men. Due to Democratic spending and energy policies, food prices have gone up 25.8% since January 2021. The average price of gasoline has almost doubled, and rent has increased 30%.

The culture promotes Democratic delusions. Cultural icons such as Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift tell young women they’d have to be insane to vote for Mr. Trump. That Mr. Trump is a misogynist. That he is a model of toxic masculinity. That he wants to take away a woman’s right to choose.

Toxic masculinity is a term feminists invented to make men feel guilty about their nature. How is keeping out predators who target women by securing the border misogynistic? Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that abortion should be decided at the state level. Most legal scholars agree.

Like so many who’ve been beguiled by progressive ideology, young women will be voting against their manifest self-interest this year.

If the government has become a substitute husband for unmarried women, they’re in an abusive relationship.

This column was first published at the Washington Times.