Quoted verbatim:

*** 'Family Ties' vs. 'Modern Family': If you want to know why Republicans are from Mars and Democrats are from Venus, or why Republicans are the 'Family Ties' party and Democrats are the 'Modern Family' party, just look at our NBC/WSJ poll.

Fourteen years ago, back in 1999, the poll asked this question: What should be a more important goal for society--promoting greater respect for traditional values, or encouraging greater tolerance? An overwhelming majority of Republicans (by 76%-16%), a majority of independents (54%-31%), and a plurality of Democrats (49%-41%) all picked traditional values.

But when we asked that question again in our new NBC/WSJ poll, there was a significant change: Almost two-thirds of Democrats picked tolerance (64%-31%), and independents moved, too (narrowly siding with traditional values, 48%-43%). But the Republican percentage remained virtually the same from 1999 (77%-18%). This movement by Democrats and the non-movement by Republicans might very well represent the biggest difference between the two political parties, especially when it comes to social issues and values.