Another Poll--Hurray! Gallup on Morals

Steve Colbert did a segment spoofing the recent Gallup poll on "morally acceptable" or "morally wrong" behavior. They asked a random group of over 1,000 Americans to judge 16 acts. They broke the findings down according to sex and then later according to Democrat, Independent, or Republican.

What I found peculiar was that there were no economic questions. For instance,"Do you feel it is morally acceptable to trade derivatives?" "Do you feel it is morally accceptable for health insurance companies to raise rates when a family has no medical expenses in a year?" "Do you feel it is morally responsible for a bank to foreclose on a couple if they are three months behind on their mortgage? " "Do you feel its is morally responsible for a CEO of a company to take a multi-million bonus but lay off thousands of workers?" The only question remotely concerned about money is gambling and 61% of Americans find it morally acceptable. I would have liked to see more questions raised about the morality of the economy.

So, let's start with those things which are really, horribly morally wrong. 92% felt that a married man and woman having an affair is morally wrong. 90% felt that polygamy was wrong. Although I noticed 10% of men felt it was morally acceptable. 88% felt that cloning humans was wrong. 77% said that suicide was morally wrong. And 63% said that cloning animals was wrong.

Abortion was thought by 50% to be morally wrong. Here the split was political. 51% of Democrats believed it was morally acceptable. 39% of Independents thought it was acceptable. Only 26% of Republicans thought abortion was acceptable. By gender, 41% of men and 36% of women found it acceptable.

Pre-marital sex had 59% moral acceptability. 67% of Democrats, 64% of Independents, and 47% of Republicans. Men: 63%; Women: 56%.

Having a child out of marriage has a 54% approval rate: 61% of Democrats, 59% of Independents,and only 41% of Republicans. Men: 52% ; Women:55%

Gay and Lesbian relations received 52% morally acceptable rating. This is dramatically different according to politics. 61% of both Democrats and Independents said gay and lesbian relations were morally acceptable. Only 35% of Republicans. Men: 53%; Women:51%.

Doctor-assisted suicides were tied at 46% acceptable and 46% unacceptable. Democrats: 52%; Independents: 46%; and Republican: 40%. Men: 49%; Women: 42%.

And the Death Penalty has 65% morally acceptable versus 23% morally wrong. Democrats: only 52%, Independents 66%, and Republicans 76%.

Embryonic stem cell research receives 59% morally acceptable to only 32% morally wrong. 68% Democrats, 62% Independent; and 47% Republicans.

And now Divorce. 69% of Americans believe it's morally acceptable and only 23% do not. 73% Democrats, 74% Independents and 61% Republican. 71% of men; 67% women.

The buying and wearing fur throwaway question. 60% find it morally acceptable, while 35% do not. Men:73% and Women: 48%. This is the biggest gender gap of the whole survey. The next two were the questions about cloning animals and medical testing. And the final two were gambling and the death penalty. On wearing furs, only 54% of Democrats believed it was acceptable, while 67% of Republicans did so.

The biggest positive change in recent memory, for me, is the acceptance of gay and lesbian relations. And the biggest downward change is the moral acceptance of abortion. And basically,Americans overwhelmingly realize you are going to have premarital sex and you are going to get a divorce. The last number--accepting divorce--is a fatal recognition that 50% of present-day marriages end in divorce.

In terms of present political struggles, the moral acceptance of such a high divorce rate really calls into question the whole alleged rationale against same-sex marriages. If the family values crowd maintains marriage is necessary to create the family unit and to nurture children, then why are they not as ferocious against heterosexual divorce as against same-sex marriage? Never mind, we all know the reasons.