Call it the new Age of Aquarius.
While a growing share of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, there is one belief that appears to unite a significant share of them: astrology. YouGov’s latest poll finds that a little more than one-quarter of Americans (27%) – including 37% of adults under 30 – say that they believe in astrology, or that the position of the stars and planets influences people’s lives.
Younger American adults are more likely to say they believe in astrology than older Americans are. While 37% of adults under 30 say they believe in it, less than half as many Americans 65 and older say they do (16%). Women (30%) are slightly more likely to say they believe in astrology than men are (25%). White Americans (25%) are somewhat less likely to say the stars and planets predict behavior than Black (31%) and Hispanic (32%) Americans are to say so.
Where the numbers become really interesting is when age is taken into account.
Where only 16% of people over 65 believe in this stuff, 37% of 18-29-year-olds do and only 41% don’t.
And a full 38% of 18-44-year-old men believe in it.
Is it just the usual question of younger people being more credulous or another factor of the overall generational decline?
It’s an interesting data point because it’s seemingly apolitical and allows us to examine the state of a generational mind without getting bogged down in wokeness. And yet we know perfectly well that this stuff is very much woke-adjacent. It’s how Marianne Williamson became a Democrat personality even before she ran for the White House. It’s why Hillary had her seance and why her campaign chair was obsessed with UFOs.
You’ve gotta believe in something.
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