Good News: More Americans Are Pro-Larger Families, by Emmy Griffin

Gallup recently released an analysis of past polls wherein it posed the question: What is the ideal family size? As it currently stands, 47% of Americans polled believe that one to two children is the ideal, while 45% believe that three or more children is the ideal. Only 2% of all respondents declared that zero children is the ideal. Whew!

The question of ideal family size has shifted greatly since Gallup started asking this question back in 1936. Between 1936 and 1945, the majority of Americans thought three or more children made for an ideal family size. That number started to stagnate — you guessed it — in the 1960s and ‘70s with the advent of more women in the workplace, contraception, and horrible economic stagflation. During those years, opinions trended toward the smaller family model (i.e., one or two kids). Smaller family favoritism hit its peak in 1986, then started to trend back downward, though there was a noticeable spike again during The Great Recession in 2011.  …

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