Rick Satorum has pinned gay marriage as
the reason fewer Americans are getting married.
According to a report released
Wednesday by the Washington D.C. think tank Pew Research Center, the
current number of married adults over 18 has dropped to a record of
51 percent. That's a 21 percent drop from 1960.
Santorum, considered the GOP
presidential field's most outspoken candidate on marriage equality,
tweeted on Wednesday to his nearly 46,000 followers, “Here is 1
effect of changing definition of marriage,” along with a Huffington
Post link to a story on the study.
Pew researcher D'Vera Cohn never
mentioned gay marriage as a reason for the decline.
When the Huffington Post asked, “Why
aren't people getting married?” Cohn answered: “There are a
number of things going on that could play a role. One is that there
are other kinds of living arrangements that are socially acceptable
now that may not have been in the past, such as living with someone
without being married, living on your own, or even living as a single
parent. So people may feel they have options that they didn't used
to have. Another factor in some cases is that among Americans who
complete college, or education beyond that, they may want to get
their education done and get launched in a career before they settle
down and get married. From some surveys we've taken, we've had
people say that it's important, at least for men, to be financially
able to provide for a family before they get married. It may [also]
be that some couples feel they don't have the financial wherewithal
to have a wedding yet.”