In most of Gallup’s Governance surveys from 2001 through 2010, older generations of Americans were more likely than those in Generations X or Y to say they want government to sanction and protect traditional values. However, the percentage of young adults — aged 18 to 34 — who want government to promote traditional values has been steadily increasing in recent years, rising from 38% in 2008 to 53% today.

As a result — and owing to declines in older adults’ support for government’s promoting traditional values — young adults are now the most likely to favor it.

The reason for these shifts in views by age is unclear. They neither track with changes in respondents’ overall political ideology — the percentages of each group labeling themselves “conservative” have held fairly steady over the same period — nor do they parallel approval of the president. Presidential job approval rose sharply in 2009 among all groups when President Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush, and that might have been responsible for the increased support for government action with respect to traditional values the same year. However, approval of Obama has since declined among young adults as well as among older age groups, while young adults’ support for government’s promoting of traditional values has continued to rise.