--- title: Marriage: Marital Happiness Is Not a Political Contest description: The real issue: economics canonical: https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-19T19:14:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:18.807Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Marital Happiness Is Not a Political Contest og:description: The real issue: economics og:url: https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marital Happiness Is Not a Political Contest twitter:description: The real issue: economics twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Marital Happiness Is Not a Political Contest > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=7ee0f274-be35-4b45-a330-f483b35d795d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Financial Side Of The Marriage Equality Debate [Watch (HLS stream): The Financial Side Of The Marriage Equality Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zM20MpLt.m3u8) (2:18)  _Published 2015-06-25. The Supreme Court’s ruling on whether same-sex marriages should be recognized will have wide-ranging economic impacts for same-sex couples._ by [Naomi Cahn](https://time.com/author/naomi-cahn/) and [June Carbone](https://time.com/author/june-carbone/) Aug 19, 2015 7:14 PM UTC by [Naomi Cahn](https://time.com/author/naomi-cahn/) and [June Carbone](https://time.com/author/june-carbone/) Aug 19, 2015 7:14 PM UTC Red v. blue divisions now characterize so much of American life that a new [analysis](http://family-studies.org/red-families-vs-blue-families-which-are-happier/) even suggests that Republicans have happier marriages. Yet framing the debate about marriage as a contest distracts from the larger issues of what’s really happening to American marriages and families. Bradford Wilcox and Nicholas H. Wolfinger crunched data from the General Social Survey to [find](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/upshot/republicans-say-they-are-happier-with-their-marriages.html?%5Fr=0&abt=0002&abg=1) that 67% of Republican men and women reported that they were “very happy” in their marriages, compared to 60% of Democrats and Independents. But these gross differences shrink from 7% to 3% with controls for region, gender, race, income and other factors. The analysis also can’t rule out causality. Any study that contrasts “red” and “blue” will find a myriad of differences that show how much the country is growing apart — Democrats versus Republicans, liberals versus conservatives, those quick to embrace new modes of life versus those who celebrate tradition, those who will move anywhere for a new opportunity versus those who succeed where they grew up. Another [analysis of the same data](http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS%5FPsyWellBeing15%5Ffinal%5Fformatted.pdf) shows that regardless of party, Americans are overwhelmingly happy with their marriages. Fewer than 4% describe their marriages as “not too happy.” With the recent Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marriage, there is even more to celebrate. The real issue that we need to be concerned about is economics. Economic status is more important than political affiliation in shaping family structure and choices. [All Americans](https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/FamilyStructure-report.pdf) – except women in the top 10% of earners – have seen their marriage rates [decrease](http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/the%5Fmarriage%5Fgap%5Fthe%5Fimpact%5Fof%5Feconomic%5Fand%5Ftechnological%5Fchange%5Fon%5Fma/) over the past 40 years. Moreover, the people most likely to report happy marriages have more [education](http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS%5FPsyWellBeing15%5Ffinal%5Fformatted.pdf) than anyone else, and the [children](http://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2015/02/05/wealthy-college-kids-8-times-more-likely-to-graduate-than-poor/) of high income parents are more likely to attend and complete college. People with more education are also less likely to get [divorced](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/divorce-rate-education-conversely-related-varies-by-race%5Fn%5F2854790.html). All of this means that well-off married couples are more likely to be happy. The poorer ones naturally aren’t as delighted all the time. It’s a fool’s errand to debate whether one political group or another is happier. The solution is not to examine whether Republicans or Democrats have happier marriages; it’s to create the economic conditions so that more people can. ## Transcript The Supreme Court's verdict on the contentious issue of same sex marriage, has wide reaching implications for same sex couples, not just emotionally, but financially as well. With this ring I thee wed. Recognizing same sex marriage unlocks a host of federal benefits for these couples. In 2004, the U. S. government Accountability Office calculated there are more than 1, 100 provisions affected by marital status. The cost of missing out on these benefits can vary greatly. But, a 2009 analysis by the New York Times found an unmarried same- sex couple could lose anywhere from $ 41, 000 to $ 468, 000. $ 68 thousand over their lifetime compared to a similar married straight couple. The benefits include social security, which pays up more for married couples. Spouses are entitled to 50 % of a partner's benefit if it's higher than their own and can receive that benefit if they survive their partner. Being married also makes it easier to officially act as a couple, allowing partners to jointly file taxes Adopt children and make medical decisions, transfer property and it's much easier to extend employer provided health insurance coverage for a spouse than a domestic partner. The latter option counts as taxable income. Filing taxes jointly is where things get tricky. And general married couples pay less in property and estate taxes than domestic partners and usually have less income tax liability. But couples with similar income levels could face the so called marriage penalty, pulling their incomes by filing jointly could bump them up to a higher tax bracket. That's something same- sex couples had to grapple with last tax season. After the court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. Most gay couples that I've talked to have said they're so happy that they're finally being acknowledged by the federal government that this union is being recognized, they're willing to pay a little bit more in taxes. It's also worth noting that some federal programs including Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid Calculate eligibility by looking at the shared income and assets of both partners in a marriage. Getting married could force some people out of these programs. From the government's perspective, the savings from those programs will more than offset increased benefit payouts if same- sex marriages are recognized. That's according to a 2004 Congressional Budget Office report. And many major businesses have long been making the case that national same- sex marriage rights will cut down on red tape, and help them retain diverse, talented workforces. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/"},"headline":"Marital Happiness Is Not a Political Contest","datePublished":"2015-08-19T19:14:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:02:18.807Z","description":"The real issue: economics","url":"https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naomi Cahn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/naomi-cahn/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"June Carbone","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/june-carbone/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/","name":"Marital Happiness Is Not a Political Contest"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Financial Side Of The Marriage Equality Debate","description":"The Supreme Court’s ruling on whether same-sex marriages should be recognized will have wide-ranging economic impacts for same-sex couples.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zM20MpLt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-25T02:54:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zM20MpLt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/","duration":"PT2M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4001925/marital-happiness-is-not-a-political-contest/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```