American views of the state of U.S. morality have reached an all-time low amid growing concerns about social and political unrest and continued religious decline, according to a new Gallup survey.
“These ratings come at a time of increased gun violence in the U.S., rising reports of disturbances on air flights, altercations between attendees at public meetings, a continued decline in religiosity, and an increasing willingness among elected officials to enact laws to regulate abortion, transgender health care and sports participation, and gun ownership,” Gallup said in the study released June 9.
“Americans’ already poor ratings of the state of moral values in the U.S. have fallen further to the lowest point in Gallup’s 22-year trend. The 54% of U.S. adults who rate moral values in the country as ‘poor’ marks a four-percentage-point increase since last year and the first time the reading has reached the majority level.”
A further 33% of U.S. adults described American values as “only fair,” while 10% said they are “good” and 1% believe them to be “excellent,” Gallup said.
“Throughout the trend, Americans have been more negative than positive in their views of the nation’s moral values, but the latest readings, from a May 1-24 poll, are substantially worse than the trend averages,” a summary said. “Since 2002, an average of 43% of U.S. adults have said the state of moral values is poor, while 38% have rated it as only fair and 18% as excellent or good.”
Political affiliation strongly influenced the way many Americans viewed the nation’s moral standing, Gallup added. “The increased negative rating of moral values is mostly owed to worsening views among independents. The 51% of independents who rate values poorly is up seven points from last year and is the highest recorded for that group. At the same time, Republicans’ and Democrats’ poor moral values ratings have each inched up two points, to 74% and 38%, respectively. The Republican reading is a new high for the group.”
The survey also uncovered a growing pessimism about the nation’s moral condition.
“In addition to Americans rating moral values in the country worse than before, a record-high 83% think they are getting worse, up five points from last year and 16 points since 2021. The previous high of 82% was recorded in 2007, when 44% of Americans rated moral values as poor. Currently, 12% of Americans think moral values are getting better, which is the lowest percentage since 2008.”
That previous milestone was attributed to the lingering aftermath of the 9-11 attacks when Americans were “very pessimistic about the current state of moral values in the United States,” the 2007 report stated.
The gloomy outlook measured in the latest survey was found to exist across party lines. “Republicans’ outlook for deteriorating values is now at a new high of 97%, while 73% of Democrats and 80% of independents think they are getting worse.”
The disparity between the parties appeared to be in part influenced by who occupies the White House, Gallup added. “Republicans’ pessimism about moral values has been on the rise since Joe Biden took office in 2021. While Democrats’ and independents’ outlooks improved in 2021, they quickly reverted to levels seen during Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Gallup said it also asked respondents “to name the most important problem with the state of moral values. … The top response was the way people treat each other, or consideration of others. This was also the top answer in 2012 when the question was previously asked.”
Democrats were almost twice as likely as Republicans to identify lack of consideration as a sign of national moral decline. Republicans were about as likely to cite “lack of faith or religion as they were to mention a lack of consideration.”