Puritan Change-of-Course in Americans' Moral Compass?

A poll published by Gallup on Tuesday shows that opinions on what is considered morally acceptable are changing in the United States. In 2026, the perceived acceptability of 17 out of 20 behaviors and actions tracked by Gallup fell, in five cases majorly. Fewer Americans thought that having a baby out of wedlock, engaging in gambling, having sex as a teenager or cloning animals was acceptable. Overall, most of these issues gained rather than lost support since Gallup started tracking them in 2001. Acceptance for using birth control, part of the survey since 2012, also fell significantly, albeit from a high 90 percent to now 83 percent.

Topics that continuously lost support since 2001 are those dealing with animal welfare and the death penalty, while those around sex, marriage and gender relations gained support over the course of the past two and a half decades. The actions losing most support in the U.S. since 2001 were medical testing on animals, down by 20 percentage points, followed by the death penalty (-11 p.p.), gambling (-6 p.p.) and cloning animals (-4. p.p.). The ones that gained most support were having gay and lesbian relations (up by 22 percentage points), divorce (up by 15 percentage points) and having a baby out of wedlock at a plus of 13 percentage points (despite a massive drop of 9 percentage points between 2025 and 2026). Polygamy is also more acceptable in 2026 than before, with support climbing from 7 percent in 2003 to 19 percent in 2026.

Across the board, U.S. opinions are taking on a more puritan streak. Adultery remains the least acceptable behavior of the 20 included at just 7 percent finding it acceptable. Cloning humans seemed an okay thing to do for only 9 percent of the U.S. population, while 27 percent agreed with cloning animals.