Most Americans approve of gay relations, babies born outside of marriage, birth control, divorce and gambling
The new Gallup poll on behaviors viewed as “morally acceptable” show a dramatic shift in some categories, such as same-sex relationships and the approval of out-of-wedlock births. Gambling, birth control and divorce were also approved of a majority of those polled.
“Americans’ willingness to describe many issues as morally acceptable has grown since 2001,” Gallup states, “namely for gay or lesbian relations, having a baby outside of marriage and sex between unmarried people.”
The number of Americans viewing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable rose from 40% to 60% between 2001 and 2016, while those viewing such relationships as morally wrong fell from 53% to 37%.
The number of those viewing having a baby outside marriage as morally acceptable rose from 45% to 62% in the same time frame. Approval for sex out of wedlock increased from 53% to 67%.
Birth control leads the list of morally acceptable things for Americans, categorized as highly acceptable, with 89% of Americans polled approving.
Divorce came in at 72% approval, an increase of 13% since 2001, and gambling was given the same moral approval as sex outside marriage, at 67%.
Check out the full Gallup report.
Sixty-percent of those polled said medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos is morally acceptable.
Still remaining taboo, or morally wrong for most Americans, is sex between teenagers, along with pornography and cloning animals, each getting rated morally acceptable by about a third of Americans.
Also still morally unacceptable is suicide with just 18% approval, polygamy at 14% and cloning humans at 13%.
Extramarital affairs get the least approval for moral acceptability, with 10% saying an affair is morally acceptable and 88% saying it is not.
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