Message #51040

[Mark]

Here's What Americans Consider Moral And Immoral

Divorce, pre-marital sex, stem cell research, and abortion are becoming more morally acceptable to Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The percentage of people who said these and other traditionally taboo issues are morally acceptable are at record highs, Gallup notes.

Below is a chart that displays the survey results, with an asterisk denoting the issues for which moral acceptability is at or near a record high:



Some issues, such as affairs and cloning humans, are still considered unacceptable, but even those areas are gaining traction and have a higher rate of moral acceptability than in past years.

Surprisingly, barely half of respondents said gay or lesbian relations were morally acceptable, but that rate is still a record high for the issue.

The difference in these rates over the past few years isn't drastic — 2010 numbers are fairly similar — but some issues that were contentious among the American people about 10 years ago have become largely acceptable today.

Americans have largely come to accept divorce, premarital sex, and homosexual relations since 2001, when Gallup first conducted a moral acceptability poll.

In 2001, 59% of respondents considered divorce morally acceptable, 40% said homosexual relations were OK, and 53% approved of premarital sex. Today, those rates are at least 10 percentage points higher on each issue.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/taboo-issues-are-becoming-more-morally-acceptable-in-america-2014-6#ixzz33wvGu9B3