After decades of losing ground, a new Gallup poll shows conservative views on sexual ethics are making a comeback. There is still much work to be done, however, which is why conservatives should not just retreat to private and charter schools. If conservatives want to win more hearts and minds, they are going to have to fight to have their voices heard in public schools.According to Gallup data released June 9, Americans have become more conservative on many issues since 2020, including gambling, having a baby outside of marriage, birth control, and sex between unmarried men and women.These numbers are historically monumental. They reflect a reversal of a trend away from traditional public morals.
As recently as 2008, the federal government encouraged the teaching of traditional morality in schools through the Adolescent Family Life Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The law funded programs designed to promote chastity and abstinence before marriage.
President Barack Obama shifted away from this approach in 2010 when his budget eliminated funding for both the Adolescent Family Life Act and Community-Based Abstinence Program, which had funded abstinence-only grant programs in schools.
