There remains some argument among lawmakers over which Americans should be able to marry, but nearly everyone agrees that marriage itself offers stability and economic benefits to couples and to society at large.

Most of the presidential candidates, on the right and the left, sound the same notes on the importance of families for the state of our union.

From the website of Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas: “Life, Marriage, and family are the fundamental building blocks of society.”

From the Democrat Hillary Clinton: “When families are strong, America is strong.”

By any number of measures, married people are on average more prosperous than those who are not married. One example: In 2011, the median net worth of married couples ages 55 to 64 was $240,000, about four times that of unmarried men and women, the Census Bureau reported.