Fewer Americans See Same-Sex Relations as 'Morally Acceptable': Poll
Is the LGBT movement beginning to reach a place where it’s alienating everyday Americans?
According to the results of Gallup’s annual “Values and Beliefs” poll, that very well appears to be the case.
This year’s iteration of the Gallup poll, which was taken between May 1 through May 24, showcased some interesting trends in the general moral acceptability of various hot-button cultural issues.
The results ultimately found that, overall, moral stances were swinging conservative, and no issue made that more pronounced than the moral acceptability of “Gay or lesbian relations.”
The issue saw a stark 7 percent drop in support, going from 71 percent support in 2022 to 64 percent in 2023.
Of all the issues covered in the poll, that was easily the starkest drop in support. The Gallup news release was headlined, “Fewer in U.S. Say Same-Sex Relations Morally Acceptable.”
Curiously, the highest rise in support came for “the death penalty.”
The drop in moral acceptability of same-sex relationships is notable for two reasons.
Further lending credence to the theory that this is some sort of pendulum swinging the other way, the Gallup poll notes that in 2022, a record-high of 71 percent of American adults said that gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable.
The 64 percent the figure currently sits at is a low that hasn’t been seen since 2019.
While America may never fully revert to the 38 percent support seen in 2002, or even the 54 percent support seen in 2012, the fact that the number is regressing at all should be worrisome for the fiercest LGBT advocates.
Gallup also notes that American support for gay or lesbian relations has remained above 60 percent since 2015.
The outlet also notes that the main factor driving the decline in gay relation support is Republicans. Among Republicans polled, 41 percent find gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable. That’s a sharp drop compared to the 56 percent figure held a year ago.
But even Democratic support for gay relations dropped some, going from 85 percent support in 2022 to 79 percent in 2023. Interestingly, Independent acceptability of gay and lesbian relations rose — albeit by a single percent.
Other cultural battlegrounds didn’t see the same magnitude of change observed by gay or lesbian relations, but most trends still largely pointed to a more conservative viewpoint.
For instance, while still overwhelmingly viewed as favorable, the moral acceptability of “birth control,” “divorce,” and “sex between an unmarried man and woman” all fell by four, three, and four percentage points, respectively.
Even the still-lucrative pornography industry saw a drop in moral support.
Interestingly, the other biggest drops in support came when animals were involved. Both “medical testing on animals” and “cloning animals” saw 4 percent drops in support.
The findings of Gallup’s “Values and Beliefs” track with an earlier report, based on the same poll, from them that found social conservatism the highest it’s been in about a decade.
That particular breakdown found that 38 percent of those polled identified as “very conservative/conservative,” while 29 percent identified as “very liberal/liberal.” In both 2021 and 2022, more people identified as liberal than conservative.
As for what this means in the big picture pertaining to 2024 and beyond, it’s still too early too tell.
But if this trend continues, Democrats will have their work cut out for them as the party moves increasingly to the left.
According to this Gallup poll, that’s not what Americans want.
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