Gallup Poll Finds Record Low Acceptance of Birth Control at 83 Percent

A Gallup poll published Tuesday found that 83 percent of Americans consider birth control morally acceptable, the lowest share recorded since the question was first asked in 2012. The figure fell from 90 percent the previous year. Only 58 percent of respondents said having a baby outside of marriage is morally acceptable, down from 70 percent in both 2022 and 2023.

Thirty-five percent said sex between teenagers is morally acceptable, compared with 46 percent in 2022. Fifty-seven percent of Americans said gender transitions are morally wrong. Twenty-seven percent said cloning animals is morally acceptable.

Eighty-nine percent said extramarital affairs are morally wrong, 86 percent said human cloning is morally wrong, 77 percent said polygamy is morally wrong, 70 percent said suicide is morally wrong, and 64 percent said pornography is morally wrong. Fifty-seven percent said gambling is morally acceptable, a six-percentage-point drop from the prior year.

Sixty-two percent said gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, down two points from last year but up 22 points since 2001.

Forty-nine percent said doctor-assisted suicide is morally acceptable, down four points from last year. Gallup stated that Americans have grown generally more accepting of most measured behaviors over the past two decades, though the trend toward more permissive attitudes has largely plateaued or pulled back in recent years.

Acceptance levels on most behaviors remain higher than they were 25 years ago.

Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to find abortion and changing gender morally acceptable. Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to support the death penalty, buying and wearing clothes made of animal fur, and medical testing on animals. Republican approval of divorce rose 12 percentage points in the past year.