The presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has seized on Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) comments regarding childless women, and it makes perfect sense, demographically speaking: Single women are now the most important voter bloc for the Democratic Party.

While married men, married women, and unmarried men all trend at least narrowly Republican, unmarried women overwhelmingly vote for Democratic candidates. Moreover, the proportion of women who have never married has grown from 20% in 1950 to 30% today, while the percentage of women who are currently married has decreased from 70% to less than 50% in the same period. The number of married households with children has similarly declined.

There are about 42 million single women in the United States, making them one of the largest voting blocs in the country. As marriage and birth rates have fallen, so has the desire among women to enter serious relationships. While nearly two-thirds of single men say they are on the dating market, only one-third of single women say they are currently looking for a relationship. This has also resulted in more isolation for a considerable number of young men, but that is a whole other problem.

The rise of single women as a voting group was accompanied by the rise of identity politics. Married men and married women largely believe that women are treated fairly, while unmarried women still hold on to older feminist ideas about gender gaps. Furthermore, single women identify with each other as a group, while married women identify more with their families, husbands, and children. Again, this is in contrast to single men, who are increasingly isolated from each other.

Women now make up about 59% of all college graduates and earn more than half of all advanced degrees. As women trend to the left, they increasingly embrace radical left-wing ideas, such as Black Lives Matter’s explicit rejection of the nuclear family. The number of women’s and gender studies degrees has increased 300% since 1990, while diversity, equity, and inclusion offices have strengthened their institutional power across the country.

The saddest part about this trend is that the policies, ideas, and behavior promoted by the Left actively harm single women.

The economic programs embraced by the Democratic Party since at least former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” have promoted dependence on the state, sometimes explicitly so. However, Democrats have been unable to counter the fact that married women actually do far better economically and professionally than their single counterparts. They are much more likely to earn promotions or be homeowners, for example.

Modern “hookup culture,” which is especially prevalent on college campuses, has a devastating effect on the individuals involved and society more generally. Most people who engage in casual sexual encounters have reported “negative mental and emotional consequences,” and a larger number of hookup partners is correlated with more instances of depression and anxiety. Casual sex harms future relationships, as having multiple sexual partners before marriage drastically increases the likelihood of divorce.

Social liberalism and economic progressivism trap young men and women in a cycle of despair. In contrast, getting married and having children makes them more conservative. Even in extremely liberal (usually urban) areas, married people trend to the right. Married women are much happier than unmarried women, and mothers are much happier than non-mothers.

The collapse of the nuclear family as the fundamental building block of society has been the second most damaging trend of the last century, second only to the closely related decline of religion and church attendance.

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Conservatives need to do a better job of articulating the importance of family life. The greatest mistake social conservatives made in the last few decades was hyper-focusing on specific problems, such as abortion or gay marriage, instead of a broader defense of the nuclear family and traditional values as a unified front. This has resulted in accumulating numerous small losses and few successes.

Right-wing public policy needs to foster the development and prosperity of nuclear families above all else, and it needs to be framed in a manner that rewards family life. This is necessary for men, women, and the nation as a whole.