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Nearly 4 in 10 Say Marriage is Obsolete

New study results from a Pew Research Center/Time magazine poll say 39% of Americans think that marriage is becoming obsolete; up 11% from when Time asked this same question in 1978. Those most likely to agree are cohabiting parents (62%) and self-described conservatives (42%). According to the survey, 52% of respondents were married in 2008; in 1960, 72% were married. Although in decline, marriage remains the usual goal for the college-educated and those with good incomes, but Pew Center researchers said marriage is “markedly less prevalent among those on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder…they are as likely to want to marry, but they place a higher premium on economic security as a condition for marriage.” Additionally, in 1960, more than two-thirds of twenty-somethings were married; in 2008, just 26% were.