The U.S. appears to be growing more socially conservative, with fewer Americans condoning pregnancy outside marriage, birth control and gambling, according to new polling.
In Gallup’s latest survey, views on the moral acceptability of 20 behaviors shifted notably from last year, with the share of respondents labeling five behaviors as permissible falling sharply — with three reaching record lows.
The results of the poll, which has been conducted since 2001, are just the latest data point in what some see as a puritanical turn. The past year has seen a sharp rise in religiosity among young men, repeated efforts by Trump administration officials to promote Christianity and curb contraception access and warnings from experts that gambling addiction has become a full-fledged crisis.
In the poll released on Tuesday, a record-low 83 percent of respondents said birth control is morally acceptable, down from 90 percent in 2025, while a record-low 57 percent said the same of gambling, down from 63 percent last year. Meanwhile, just 27 percent said cloning animals is acceptable, also an all-time low and down 7 points from last year.
Two other behaviors also saw notable declines in acceptability: having a baby outside marriage, which fell from 67 percent to 58 percent, and sex between teenagers, which dropped from 41 percent to 35 percent.
In addition to sex between teens and cloning animals, six other behaviors were also deemed morally wrong by majorities of respondents: extramarital affairs (89 percent), cloning humans (86 percent), polygamy (77 percent), suicide (70 percent), pornography (64 percent) and changing one’s gender (57 percent).
In contrast, alongside gambling, birth control and having a baby outside of marriage, most Americans listed six behaviors as acceptable: divorce (74 percent), sex between unmarried people (65 percent), lesbian or gay relations (62 percent), research using stem cells from human embryos (59 percent), buying clothing made from animal fur (57 percent) and the death penalty (52 percent).
Views were more mixed when it came to abortion, medical testing on animals and doctor-assisted suicide.
In the poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, views on the moral acceptability of behaviors differed significantly based on partisan affiliation.
Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to list most behaviors as permissible. For instance, Democrats were 55 percentage points more likely to label changing one’s gender and abortion acceptable.
That said, GOP respondents were significantly more likely to list three behaviors as acceptable: the death penalty, wearing animal fur-based clothing and medical testing on animals.
Megan Brenan, a senior editor at Gallup, told Axios that the biggest changes in views on issues such as having a child outside marriage and birth control were largely driven by shifting opinions among independents.
The results might indicate “a pendulum swinging away” from traditional liberal principles — or “maybe it is a real beginning of something,” she said.
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