Public support for same-sex marriage in the United States has slipped to 65%, down from a record 71% recorded just three years earlier, according to Gallup polling in May 2026. The decline, concentrated among Republicans, marks a break in a decades-long trend of rising acceptance and coincides with a broader souring of the national mood. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have fallen into negative territory on every major issue, with net disapproval reaching 24 points in a Marquette Law School survey and 10 points in a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll. On inflation, a core pocketbook concern, the president’s net rating plunged as low as -56, pointing to economic anxiety that may be shifting the political ground beneath social issues.

Viewed from Rome, a different generational story is unfolding. Italian under-30s are the only demographic expanding their use of credit, according to Experian data for April 2026. Personal loans among this group surged 43% year-on-year, while Buy Now Pay Later products jumped 52% and mortgages rose 38%. Far from mere seasonal noise, the figures suggest a structural embrace of debt among young adults, a cohort that the Istat statistics institute says is also rediscovering traditional family life. A late-2025 Istat report found that 74.5% of Italian teenagers and young adults expect to live as a couple in the future, and only 5.1% imagine themselves permanently single. Matrimony itself, long in decline, is showing signs of a Gen Z revival, as pop-culture icons from Dua Lipa to Brooklyn Beckham make the institution fashionable again.

Analysts in London note that these transatlantic divergences underscore how economic pressures and cultural currents interact differently across societies. In the United States, persistent inflation and partisan polarisation appear to be eroding both presidential approval and the social liberalism that once seemed irreversible. The Gallup data, reported in Le Devoir, shows that only 37% of Republicans now view same-sex marriage as legally valid, down sharply from earlier peaks. Meanwhile, Italy’s youth are leveraging credit to prop up consumption and housing, even as they signal a renewed appetite for long-term commitment and child-rearing—a tandem that could, if sustained, ease the country’s demographic decline. Whether these trends prove durable hinges on the economic cycle: a downturn would test the credit-fueled optimism of Italy’s Zoomers, while a sustained cost-of-living crisis in America could deepen the conservative turn evident in the polls.