Or rather, Democrats are more likely to say they’ve had sex in public than Republicans. And the gap between the two groups isn’t as wide as you might think. Second look at libertarianism?

To cleanse the palate, this might be my favorite poll this year.

Asked whether they have had sex in a public place, 36% of Americans say that they have while 49% say that they have not. Americans between the age of 45 and 64, a group which includes the bulk of the ‘Boomer’ generation, are by far the most likely to report having had sex in public. 47% of people aged 45 to 64 say that they have, compared to 37% of people aged 30 to 44 and 29% of under-30s. 20% of over-65s say that they have had sex in public.

Go figure that Boomers, who came of age in the late 60s and early 70s, are the only age group where people are more likely to say they’ve done the deed in public (47 percent) than that they haven’t (40 percent). (Then again, an additional 11 percent refused to answer any questions about sexual activity. If you assume all of those people are too modest to have had sex in public than you’ve got a narrow majority who haven’t done it even among Boomers.) As for the partisan split, top line is “yes,” second is “no,” third is “prefer not to say,” and fourth is “refused to answer any sexual questions”:

I would have guessed the GOP numbers would be far lower. But, thinking about it further, Republicans skew older generally, which means plenty of those free-love Boomers who’ve drifted right over the years ended up in the GOP column here, boosting the total. And plenty of younger adults, who skew Democratic, drove the Dem numbers down: Among those aged 18-29, just 29 percent have had sex in public versus 58 percent who haven’t. (The numbers rise a bit to 37 percent among the next oldest age group, the 30-44 crowd, suggesting that some of the results here may be a matter of having more opportunities as you age.)

If you can spare the time, sift through the crosstabs for lots more demographic fun on peccadilloes about sex and nudity. Case in point: Among the various groups analyzed by YouGov — gender, race, age, partisan ID, income, region, etc — the only one that says Americans aren’t too easily offended by sex and nudity is Republicans, at 38/46. (Democrats split 66/23. Even senior citizens split evenly at 41/41.) Ask people if they’ve ever gone skinny dipping, though, and Republicans are more likely to answer yes (46/54) than Democrats are (37/63). That seems like a weird result but it’s probably explained by geography. If you live in a city, as Democrats are more likely to do, and your only option for skinny dipping is the local public pool then your opportunities are limited. Some of the apparent partisan differences are also affected by age more so than party affiliation, I think. Case in point, when you ask people if they like to be naked when alone, younger adults split 45/41 while senior citizens split 22/69. Maybe that’s a cultural difference at work or maybe it’s an, er, aesthetic one. Either way, Democrats, who tend to be younger, are thus not surprisingly more likely to say they enjoy being naked (45/46) than Republicans, who trend older, are (31/60).

The real divide here, though, is between men and women. On literally every question, across subjects as situationally distinct as walking around naked at home, visiting a nude beach, exposing yourself, and having sex publicly, men are more likely to be permissive than women are — usually much, much more likely. Some of that is surely due to women feeling more pressure culturally to be in prime physical shape before showing themselves off (ain’t no “dad bod” grading curve for the ladies) but some of it is, shall we say, more easily explained. This result was so predictable that it made me laugh:

The thought of a woman sunbathing topless at the beach is opposed by women on balance by nine points and supported by men on balance by, uh … 59 points. Also predictable:

Show off your assets in public, ladies, and a plurality of your sisters are willing to see you legally sanctioned. Men, though: Nope. A clear majority demands no punishment. Again, go figure.

Not surprisingly, when you change the subject from women going topless to men going bottomless, the numbers who support punishment rise. In that case, a heavy majority of both men and women want at least a ticket issued, with 25+ percent of both genders recommending probation or prison. You can imagine why. When you think of a woman with her top off in public, you think of sunbathing; when you think of a man with his underwear off, you think of the perv in a trenchcoat bothering kids at the bus stop. It may be unfair but that’s the way it is. One other fascinating note on the punishment question, though, is that there’s a demographic group that’s conspicuously more likely to support harsher punishments for all manner of public nudity offenses, from female toplessness to male bottomlessness to either gender engaging in “mooning” to sex in public. No, it’s not Republicans. And no, it’s not senior citizens. The diehard social cons, according to YouGov, are … Hispanics. In all four of the scenarios I just mentioned, Hispanics are more likely (sometimes far more likely) to support probation or prison time than whites or blacks are. Here’s what you get when you ask how men who expose their genitals should be punished:

By comparison, just 16 percent of Republicans say men who go bottomless deserve prison time while just 11 percent of those over age 65 do. Who knew that Latinos were actually too conservative for the GOP?