Fewer Americans accept changing genders, extramarital sex, gambling

Americans are growing more morally conservative on issues such as sexual autonomy, gambling and the death penalty, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Gallup’s Values and Beliefs poll has surveyed Americans since 2001 on whether they morally accept or reject 20 different cultural issues. The May report found Americans’ moral acceptance has dropped six to nine percentage points on these five issues: birth control (83%), having a baby outside of marriage (58%), gambling (57%), sex between teenagers (35%) and cloning animals (27%).

These six subjects also reached record lows for moral acceptance: birth control, gambling, the death penalty (52%), medical testing on animals (45%), changing one’s gender (38%) and cloning animals. More than half of Americans (57%) believe changing one’s gender is not morally acceptable. Americans’ acceptance of abortion has also declined from 54% in 2024 to 49% in 2026.

Additionally, a majority of Americans, ranging from 57% to 89%, agree that these top eight behaviors are morally wrong: sex between teenagers, extramarital affairs, cloning humans, polygamy, suicide, cloning animals, pornography and changing one’s gender.

Unsurprisingly, Americans differ across the political spectrum on acceptance of these behaviors. Democrats are 55 percentage points more likely than Republicans to approve of abortion and changing one’s gender and 46 percentage points more likely to support gay or lesbian relations, as previously reported. While moral approval for issues such as birth control, divorce and sex outside of marriage remains high, the overall decrease in support is significant, Gallup said.

“Over the past two decades, Americans have grown generally more accepting of most of the behaviors measured by Gallup, which include those associated with sex, marriage, and certain medical and end-of-life issues,” it wrote. “However, this trend toward more permissive attitudes has largely plateaued or pulled back in recent years, though acceptance levels on most behaviors remain higher than they were 25 years ago.”