A new Gallup poll found that traditional values are rising in the United States as the moral acceptability of several behaviors is on the decline.
According to the poll, the acceptability of using birth control (83%), having a baby outside of marriage (58%), gambling (57%), teenage sex (35%), and cloning animals (27%) has fallen. Other behaviors viewed as morally wrong include extramarital affairs, cloning humans, polygamy, suicide, cloning animals, pornography, and gender changes.
While the acceptability of abortion has declined in recent years, down to 41% from 54% in 2024, 49% of U.S. adults still say abortion is morally acceptable.
Other behaviors that many Americans deem as being morally acceptable include divorce (74%), sex between unmarried people (65%), gay or lesbian relationships (62%), medical research using stem cells from human embryos (59%), purchasing clothes made of animal fur (57%), and the death penalty (52%).
The poll noted that Republicans, in particular, are more likely than Democrats to find the death penalty, buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur, and medical testing on animals, as being morally acceptable. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to find birth control, divorce, and gambling morally acceptable, although both parties tend to favor the behaviors.
Gallup concluded that over the last two decades, Americans have become “generally more accepting of most of the behaviors measured by Gallup, which include those associated with sex, marriage, and certain medical and end-of-life issues.” Gallup noted, however, that the trend “toward more permissive attitudes has largely plateaued or pulled back in recent years, though acceptance levels on most behaviors remain higher than they were 25 years ago.”
