A new Gallup survey shows fewer Americans describing several social behaviors as morally acceptable, with the sharpest movement reported among political independents.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Americans have become less likely over the past year to describe birth control, gambling and having children outside marriage as morally acceptable, according to a new Gallup poll showing movement on several measures of public morality.
The survey found that majorities still consider each of those practices morally acceptable, but support has declined from 2024 levels. Gallup’s findings come as Republican political strength has increased, religious interest has grown among some younger Americans, particularly young men, and debates over progressive social policies have intensified.
Birth control remains widely accepted, but its support has fallen to the lowest level Gallup has recorded since it began tracking the issue in 2012. The poll found that 83% of Americans now say birth control is morally acceptable, down from 90% last year.
Views on births outside marriage also shifted. Gallup found that 58% of Americans now say having a baby outside marriage is morally acceptable. That figure had reached 70% in both 2022 and 2023.
Megan Brenan, a senior editor at Gallup, told Axios that much of the change on issues such as birth control and out-of-wedlock childbirth came from political independents.
The numbers may indicate a broader movement away from more liberal social views, Brenan said, adding that the findings could represent a pendulum shift back toward the center or “maybe it is a real beginning of something.”
Gambling also saw a decline in moral acceptance, reaching a new low in Gallup’s trend data. The drop comes as prediction markets have grown in popularity as a way to wager on politics, sports, business developments and other current events.
Earlier research from Ipsos and the American Institute for Boys and Men found that Americans generally view prediction market trading more as gambling than investing.
Gallup also reported that Americans judged several practices as morally wrong by majority margins. Those included sex between teenagers, extramarital affairs, human cloning, polygamy, suicide, animal cloning, pornography and changing one’s gender.
The decline in acceptance of changing one’s gender came alongside reduced support for same-sex marriage and for the morality of gay and lesbian relationships, according to the survey.
The poll also highlighted clear partisan divides. Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to say abortion and changing one’s gender are morally acceptable. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say the death penalty, wearing clothing made from animal fur and medical testing on animals are morally acceptable.
Other issues drew opposition across party lines. Republicans and Democrats both rated human cloning and animal cloning poorly.
The survey was conducted May 1-17 among 1,001 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
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