Besides heading to Illinoize and having some fun there, your weekend reading assignment is the Pew Research Center’s March 22 survey on trends in political values and core attitudes, 1987-2007 . It’s fascinating.

Harold Henderson has one bit on his blog…

In 1987, 73% of white evangelical Protestants agreed that school boards should have the right to fire homosexual teachers. Today, just 42% do so. And in 1987, 60% of white evangelicals believed that AIDS might be a punishment for immoral sexual behavior; today just 38% believe this.

Here’s more…

In 1987, about half of the survey’s respondents (49%) gave conservative answers to at least four of the six questions. In 2007, just 30% did so. This trend has occurred in all major social, political, and demographic groups in the population. While Republicans remain significantly more conservative than Democrats or independents on social values, they too have become substantially less conservative over this period.

The decline in social conservatism is being hastened by generational change, as each new age cohort has come into adulthood with less conservative views on the questions than did their predecessors.

All in all, though, it’s a lot more nuanced than this. Go read the whole thing.