WASHINGTON — Results from a just-released Gallup poll show that 43 percent of Americans now believe pornography is "morally acceptable."
Gallup Inc., the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide, said that the results represent a seven-percentage-point gain from last year and the highest level since it first began measuring moral perceptions of porn in 2011.
Last year, the percentage of those believing porn was “morally acceptable” stood at 36 percent.
“Across a number of issues related to sexuality and sex, Americans have -- at either a gradual or a quick rate -- been adopting a more permissive viewpoint, including such behaviors as sex between unmarried people and gay/lesbian relations,” Gallup researchers said.
“Even behaviors that most Americans still consider beyond the pale, such as polygamy, have seen a notable increase in acceptability. In this context, it is hardly surprising that a similar change would be observed with respect to perceptions of porn.
“The cause of the single-year shift on this item, though, is less clear. It may represent something of an outlier, in which case acceptance of porn would be expected to decrease next year, even if it remains above the 2017 level.
“Or the shift, though principally driven by a structural trend, may been have been exacerbated by political factors, such as the public battle between Stormy Daniels and the president.”
Results for the Gallup poll were based on telephone interviews conducted May 1-10, with a random sample of 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The poll was part of Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, measuring social trends such as doctor-assisted suicide, gay/lesbian relations, sex between unmarried people and having a baby out of wedlock.
Gallup noted that for the first time on record, a majority of Democrats (53 percent) said porn is morally acceptable. Last year, this figure was static at 42 percent. Democrats' acceptance of porn has grown by 21 points since 2011.
The 27 percent of Republicans who regard porn as morally acceptable is generally stable this year compared with last year's 25 percent. But Republicans have become somewhat more accepting of porn since 2011, with the percentage "morally acceptable" rising by 11 points.
The survey said that 45 percent of independents say this year that porn is morally acceptable, a five-point increase from last year. Overall, independents' views on the morality of porn have been relatively stable since 2011.
“The partisan gap on the morality of porn widened slightly this year (to 26 points), largely because of the sizable change in Democratic attitudes,” Gallup researchers said. “Why Democrats' attitudes shifted is less clear. While Democrats have become increasingly socially liberal, the percentage of Democrats who describe themselves as socially liberal this year is essentially unchanged from the year before.
“Another explanation is that Stormy Daniels, adult film star actress and fierce critic of President Trump, has given porn a sense of moral credibility that it previously lacked.”
Gallup researchers said that compared with a number of demographic traits or characteristics that help shape a person's moral perceptions of porn — including gender, age, importance of religion in one's life and marital status — two subgroups saw a big year-over-year spike in the their acceptance of porn. These are nonmarried individuals and men aged 18 to 49.
This year, the percentage of nonmarried individuals who find porn morally acceptable rose 15 points to 50 percent. Acceptance of porn among married individuals, at 35 percent this year, is essentially no different from last year's 37 percent.
Meanwhile, 67 percent of men aged 18 to 49 this year said porn is morally acceptable, a 14-point increase from last year.
“By contrast, perceptions remained relatively stable across other age-gender categories, including men who are 50 or older (a one-point increase), women aged 18 to 49 (plus 4 points) and women aged 50 and older (plus 7 points),” Gallup researchers said.
Gallup researchers noted that religion also plays an important role in how a person perceives the morality of porn, with 22 percent of those for whom religion is "very important" saying porn is morally acceptable this year, compared with about three-quarters of those who say religion is "not very important."
