Do serious traditionalists and conservatives really miss the woke landslide?

Counting the children of public figures does not prove either side right, but it does reveal a paradox: those who criticize wokism the loudest have, on average, fewer children than their political opponents.

The culture war is fought on social media, in the press and in parliaments, but there is one arena where the numbers tell a different story: offspring. A look at the biographies of leaders and commentators shows that criticism of wokism is not always accompanied by a demographic commitment.

## The children of the political class

Spanish prime ministers of recent decades have all had children. **José María Aznar** has three; **José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero**, two; **Mariano Rajoy**, two; **Pedro Sánchez**, two. **Alberto Núñez Feijóo** has one. On the left, **Pablo Iglesias** and **Irene Montero** have three children between them, **Yolanda Díaz** has one and **Gabriel Rufián**, two. On the conservative side, **Isabel Díaz Ayuso** has no children, while **Juanma Moreno** has three.

The list is not exhaustive and proves nothing on its own. But those who cite it point to an asymmetry: elected officials on both sides have similar birth rates, with no clear differences marked by ideological discourse.

## Commentators without children

The contrast emerges when looking at the media voices of the anti-proge discourse. **Javier Milei**, president of Argentina, has no children. **Agustín Laje**, an intellectual reference in that orbit, does not either. Commentators known as **Wall Street Wolverine**, **Santiago Armesillas**, **Roberto Vaquero** and **Vito Quiles** have no children. Neither does **Alvise Pérez**, a Member of the European Parliament.

Some argue this reflects a disconnect between the rhetoric and everyday life. The claim circulates on forums and social media, but it does not come from any demographic study. It is a hand-made tally mixing figures from Spain and Argentina without adjusting for age, marital status or life plans.

## What Spanish demography says

Spain's fertility rate stands at **1.12 children per woman**, according to the latest data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain's national statistics institute). It is one of the lowest in the European Union. The average age at the birth of a first child exceeds **32 years**. In that context, having one, two or no children responds to economic, job-related and housing factors that go beyond ideology.

The debate over who has children and who does not says more about the culture war than about social reality. Low birth rates affect every group, whatever they vote.