Americans’ moral compass is shifting, though some behaviors remain firmly in the “wrong” column, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Birth control and divorce top the list of morally acceptable behaviors. Meanwhile, extramarital affairs and human cloning remain deeply taboo.
Gallup’s latest Values and Beliefs poll tracked 20 behaviors. While most attitudes stayed steady from last year, two issues saw notable shifts.
Support for abortion’s moral acceptability dropped from a record high of 54% in 2024 to 49%, and fewer Americans now view changing one’s gender as acceptable. Both shifts appear to be driven primarily by changing Republican views.
Party lines define moral boundaries
Political affiliation shapes moral judgments more than any other factor, Gallup found.
The biggest divide? Democrats are significantly more accepting of changing one’s gender, followed by abortion and then gay and lesbian relations.
Yet common ground exists. Both parties largely agree that divorce, having babies outside marriage, gambling and birth control are morally acceptable.
They also unite in condemning seven behaviors: pornography, suicide, polygamy, animal cloning, extramarital affairs, medical testing on animals and human cloning.
Generational differences exist but pale compared to political divides.
Young adults (defined by Gallup as aged 18-34) are significantly more accepting of changing gender and abortion than those 55 and older. Older Americans, however, are more comfortable with medical testing on animals.
These generational patterns persist within each political party.
What most Americans agree on
A majority of all survey respondents agreed that 10 of the 20 behaviors are morally acceptable:
- Birth control: 90% said it’s morally acceptable, and 7% said it’s morally wrong
- Divorce: 75%, 19%
- Sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman: 68%, 29%
- Having a baby outside of marriage: 67%, 29%
- Gay or lesbian relations: 64%, 33%
- Gambling: 63%, 32%
- Human embryonic stem cell research: 63%, 29%
- Buying/wearing animal fur clothing: 61%, 34%
- Death penalty: 56%, 35%
- Doctor-assisted suicide: 53%, 40%
A majority of respondents agreed that eight behaviors are morally wrong:
- Sex between teenagers: 41% said it’s morally acceptable, 51% said it’s morally wrong
- Changing one’s gender: 40%, 54%
- Pornography: 35%, 60%
- Cloning animals: 34%, 59%
- Polygamy: 21%, 74%
- Suicide: 21%, 71%
- Cloning humans: 8%, 87%
- Married men and women having an affair: 8%, 89%
The two behaviors on which respondents were most divided were abortion (acceptable to 49% and wrong to 40%) and medical testing on animals (acceptable to 47% and wrong to 47%).
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