2024 Is Suddenly About Having Kids. Why?

Hosted by Michelle CottleRoss Douthat and Carlos Lozada

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If you believe JD Vance, the American family is in crisis. But are attacks on “childless cat ladies” and pitches for enfranchising kids actual policy platforms or merely culture war cudgels?

This week on “Matter of Opinion,” Jessica Grose joins Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat and Carlos Lozada to debate the weird ways gender and family are showing up in the election and share their own roads to parenthood.

Plus, Jessica suggests a deep dive into a culture of “tin pot dictators wearing LoveShackFancy.”

(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.)

Credit…Illustration by The New York Times. Photo: Benjamin Rondel

Recommended in this episode:

• “Red Families vs. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of the Culture” by Naomi Cahn and June Carbone

• “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind” by Melissa S. Kearney

• “The Party of Julia” by Ross Douthat

• “Welcome to Bama Confidential,” Anne Helen Peterson’s essay series on her Culture Study newsletter

Thoughts? Email us at matterofopinion@nytimes.com.

Follow our hosts on X: Michelle Cottle (@mcottle), Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) and Carlos Lozada (@CarlosNYT).

“Matter of Opinion” is produced by Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Phoebe Lett and Andrea Betanzos. It is edited by Jordana Hochman. Mixing by Carole Sabouraud. Original music by Isaac Jones, Efim Shapiro, Carole Sabouraud, Sonia Herrero, and Pat McCusker. Our fact-checking team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker and Michelle Harris. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. Our executive producer is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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