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Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, which it has conducted since 2001, is always fascinating but this year’s results of 1,001 adults are especially encouraging.
“Moral Acceptability Falls for Several Behaviors” reads the headline to Megan Brenan’s story and that includes abortion and “doctor assisted suicide” (the link to a “doctor” always inflates the positives).
For abortion, asked “whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong,” the percentage saying it was morally acceptable dropped from 54% in 2025 to 49% in 2026. 41% found in morally unacceptable.
While hardly acceptable to us, a drop of 9% is heartening.
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As you would expect, there is huge partisan gap. “For 14 of the 20 behaviors measured, significantly more Democrats than Republicans say each is morally acceptable, though the gaps vary widely,” according to Brenan. “Democrats are 55 percentage points more likely than Republicans to find abortion…morally acceptable.”
Likewise for doctor-assisted suicide, the percentage who said they personally believe it was morally acceptable decreased from 53% in 2025 to 49% in 2026. However, there was a 29%-point gap between Democrats—68%–and Republicans—39%, very similar to 2025 results.
86% found it morally unacceptable to clone humans, almost exactly the same results as 2025. However, only 27% found it morally acceptable to clone animals, down from 34% in the 2024 and 2025.
“Bottom line” according to Gallup
Over the past two decades, Americans have grown generally more accepting of most of the behaviors measured by Gallup, which include those associated with sex, marriage, and certain medical and end-of-life issues. However, this trend toward more permissive attitudes has largely plateaued or pulled back in recent years, though acceptance levels on most behaviors remain higher than they were 25 years ago
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.
