Here's a blast from Ameripol past: A MSH Gallup poll post!
First, a rather dramatic trend shift -
some Americans are finally not so unshakably bootlicking as to rate themselves as extremely proud to be Americans, by which I means that only 60% say they're extremely or very proud as compared to the previous high of 90%. This decline largely took place among women, racial minorities, and 18-to-29. Notably,
nobody increased. Even Republicans stayed static at around 70%. Only 10% of Americans say they aren't proud of their nationality at all. It's a start, I guess.
Second, it's my old flame,
the Gallup Moral Acceptability poll! I've posted the previous incarnations of this before, in 2014 and then in 2017. I'll include those numbers here per year in order to see changes, so the order will be '14, '17, and then '20 with the change between them in parentheses.
Percentage saying the following are morally acceptable:
Birth Control: 90%,
91%,
90% (
+0%)
Alcohol Use: - , -,
86% (
-)
Divorce: 69%,
73%,
77% (
+8%)
Sex, Unmarried: 66%,
69%,
72% (
+6%)
Gambling: -,
65%,
71% (
+6%)
Marijuana Use: -, -,
70% (
+0%)
Sex, Gay: 58%,
63%,
66% (
+8%)
Children Outside Of Marriage: 58%,
62%,
66% (
+8%)
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: 65%,
61%,
66% (
+1%)
Death Penalty: 60%,
58%,
54% (
-6%)
Doctor-Assisted Suicide: 52%,
57%,
51% (
-1%)
Animal Fur Clothing: 58%,
57%,
54% (
-4%)
Animal Medical Testing: -,
51%,
56% (
+5%)
Abortion: 42%,
43%,
44% (
+2%)
Sex, Between Teenagers: 30%,
36%,
38% (
+8%)
Pornography: 33%,
36%,
36% (
+3%)
Cloning Animals: 34%,
32%,
34% (
+0%)
Suicide: 19%,
18%,
18% (
-1%)
Polygamy: 14%,
17%,
20% (
+6%)
Cloning Humans: 13%,
14%,
12% (
-1%)
Extramarital Affairs: 7%,
9%,
9% (
+2%)
As one might expect from the beating the religious right has been taking over the past decade, sexual and marriage issues other than abortion have seen strong increases in acceptability, even including the more contentious issue of sex between teenagers, and with the exception of abortion. And the beatings will surely continue.
As the main article points out, moral support for the death penalty has reached a new low. Acceptability of fur clothing and medical testing on animals have swapped. Gambling is more accepted now, possibly due to the increase in video poker, sports betting, and lotto card addiction.
The increase in acceptance of polygamy is the real standout, given how low it was starting from. I attribute this to the increase in polyamorous relationships and communities since 2014. This may also be why a couple percent more agree with extramarital affairs, depending on their interpretation of the question since there is no direct polyamory question. It seems the rhetorical fears of the mid-2000s anti-ssm politicos may yet come to pass...
Abortion remains as slow rolling as ever, though it is the most divided by far with a difference of 52% acceptance between libs and conservatives. The least divided issue is animal medical testing, with only a 4% difference.