American Moral Acceptability

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

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July 29, 2025

Our mission is to report how people around the globe feel about their lives, their work and the world around them.

1. American Moral Acceptability

Bar Chart: Americans' opinions of the moral acceptability of 20 behaviors.

The Data: Large majorities of Americans view birth control (90%), divorce (75%) and sex between unmarried adults (68%) as morally acceptable. At the same time, most say extramarital affairs (89%), cloning humans (87%) and suicide (71%) are morally wrong.

Shared Morality: Americans broadly agree on the acceptability of several behaviors, with 10 viewed as morally acceptable by more than 50% of U.S. adults. Eight are considered morally wrong by the same proportion. Only abortion and medical testing on animals fall into a gray zone, with less than 50% taking either position.

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2. American Moral Divide

Column Chart: Party differences in views of moral acceptability of three issues.

The Data: Majorities of Democrats say gay or lesbian relations (86%), abortion (78%) and changing one's gender (71%) are morally acceptable, compared with just 38%, 20% and 9% of Republicans, respectively.

The Divide: These three behaviors engender the largest partisan gaps in perceived morality: 62 percentage points for changing genders, 58 points for abortion and 48 points for same-sex relations.

Line Chart: People continue to see their lives in a more positive light.

The Highs: A median of one in three adults worldwide (33%) rate their lives positively enough to be considered “thriving,” continuing a trend of steady improvements going back more than a decade. Seven percent rate their lives poorly enough to be considered “suffering,” matching the previous low set in 2020.

The Trend: The percentage of people thriving has increased by 12 points since 2013, rising steadily even amid significant global challenges.

Bar Chart: Americans' belief in paranormal phenomena.

The Data: Forty-eight percent of Americans say they believe in psychic or spiritual healing, the most widely accepted of eight paranormal concepts asked about. Belief in ghosts follows at 39%, while 24%, the least for any phenomenon tested, believe in witches or reincarnation.

Widespread Skepticism: Americans largely reject the idea of most paranormal phenomena, with 50% or more saying they do not believe in astrology, clairvoyance, reincarnation or witches. Even the more accepted concepts like ghosts and telepathy face substantial disbelief.

Bar Chart: Americans' outlook for owning cryptocurrency.

The Data: Fourteen percent of Americans say they currently own cryptocurrency. Ownership peaks at 25% among men under 50, compared with 12% among men aged 50 and older and just 8% of women under 50 and 9% of women aged 50 and older.

The Profile: Current crypto holders are more likely to be younger, male, conservative, Republican and higher-income. Six in 10 U.S. adults say they are not interested in ever buying cryptocurrency, including 74% of women aged 50 and older and 73% of liberal Americans.