(CNSNews.com) — In the latest edition of its annual survey on “values and beliefs,” Gallup discovered that 89% of Americans think married men and women having an affair is “morally wrong,” but when it comes to unmarried men and women having sex, 71% said it was “morally acceptable.”
The survey asked of 21 different topics, “Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong.”
For “sex between an unmarried man and woman,” 71% said “morally acceptable” and 28% said “morally wrong.”
For “married men and women having an affair,” only 9% said it was “morally acceptable.” Eighty-nine percent said it was “morally wrong.”
On related issues, 58% said it is morally wrong for teenagers to have sex but 38% said it was okay, acceptable.
Also, 50% said abortion is morally wrong; 42% said it is morally acceptable.
Sixty-one percent said pornography is wrong and only 37% said it was acceptable.
When it comes to homosexual relations, 35% of Americans said they are morally wrong but 63% said they are morally acceptable.
“There has been little movement since last year in Americans’ views of the moral acceptability of a range of issues, as birth control, drinking alcohol and divorce remain the most acceptable, and cloning humans and extramarital affairs are least acceptable,” said Gallup.
“A strong ideological split remains across many of the issues, but none is as divisive as abortion,” according to the polling firm. “As some states move to limit or restrict abortions, debate around this issue will likely only get more intense.”
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