Vaguely interesting (Aug 12)

(1)  Most young adults from religious households stop going to church and many drop their religious affiliations; those who become parents and/or married are most likely to rejoin.

(2)  In the U.S., there are now big education-based differences in marriage and divorce, but the patterns aren’t showing up clearly in Europe.

(3)  “We propose that human social cognition is structured around a basic understanding of ourselves and others as intuitive utility maximizers.”

(4)  “Republicans are running out of rednecks … to protect their advantage in some parts of the South, where a large minority voting base gets Democrats within sight of a majority. But in parts of the country where voting habits, residual unionization, and down-ballot strength have kept Democrats competitive among non-college-educated whites, there’s more room for Republicans to grow their vote, so long as they are not outgunned by minority and upscale segments of the electorate.”

(5)  Drew Linzer’s handy chart on state-level presidential polling averages.