CV NEWS FEED // A recent Gallup poll has discovered that only 15% of Americans rate the overall state of moral values in the nation as “excellent” or “good,” with 49% considering moral values “poor” and just 34% saying “fair.”
Low as Americans’ views on the state of moral values are, the 2024 data has more optimistic views on morals than the 2023 findings. Last year, 11% of Americans thought the state of moral values was good or excellent, 54% said the state was poor, and 33% said fair.
However, the poll also asked Americans if they thought the state of moral values in the country was getting better or worse. A clear majority (81%) said they thought values are declining, and only 14% said they are getting better. Just 3% said morals are remaining about the same. In 2023, 83% said that they felt the country’s moral values were getting worse, the highest number recorded since Gallup first asked the question in May 2002.
Gallup then asked participants for their personal views on the morality of issues like abortion, the death penalty, physician-assisted suicide, and other controversial topics.
Regarding abortion, 54% felt it was morally acceptable, 37% said it was morally wrong, and 8% said it depends. Fifty-five percent said the death penalty was acceptable, while 39% said it was morally wrong. The majority was also in favor of physician-assisted suicide (53%), with 40% calling it morally wrong.
In terms of marriage issues and sexual ethics, 69% saw nothing wrong with an unmarried man and woman having sex, 86% condemned married men and women having affairs, and 78% were in favor of divorce.
Sixty-eight percent said having a baby outside marriage was morally acceptable, 74% said polygamy was morally wrong, 64% approved of homosexual acts, and just 6% said birth control was morally wrong. Thirty-eight percent said pornography was morally acceptable, while 58% disagreed.
The majority of Americans (63%) approved of using human embryos for stem cell research, while 29% called it morally wrong. Most Americans (82%) were also in favor of in vitro fertilization, with just 10% saying it was morally wrong.
Forty-four percent thought it was morally acceptable for a person to change their gender, but 51% said the opposite.
In 2022, Gallup asked what the most important problem with the state of moral values in the country was. Eighteen percent said some variation of consideration of others or tolerance. Eight percent said racism or discrimination, 7% answered lack of faith or religion, 7% said a lack of morals, and 6% said a sense of entitlement or dependency on the government. Only 5% said that a lack of family structure, divorce, or children’s upbringing contributed to the problem.
