My newest column on the Guardian is up!
It’s titled “Godless millennials could end the political power of the religious right“, and it concerns the demographic trends toward a more secular America that I’ve been covering for some time. In it, I argue that there’s evidence these trends are making themselves felt in electoral politics. Here’s an excerpt:
The 2014 midterm elections are drawing near, and it appears that the Democrats may well lose the Senate, since they’re fighting on unfriendly territory – a large number of seats in red states are up for grabs.
But if you look deeper than the national picture, there’s a more interesting story. In southern states like Georgia and Kentucky – which in the past would have been easy Republican holds – the races are unexpectedly tight. In fact, the only reason that the questions of which party will control the Senate in 2015 is unsettled at all is that an unusual number of races in dark red states are toss-ups, despite an overall political climate that generally favors conservatives.
What we’re seeing may well be the first distant rumblings of a trend that’s been quietly gathering momentum for years…