A new study by Gallup has found that Americans have become more stringent in their assessment of a number of moral issues. According to the annual “Values and Beliefs” survey, the proportion of Americans who regard certain forms of behavior as morally acceptable has declined noticeably over the past year, reports inVictory.

The sharpest decline was recorded in attitudes toward contraception. While 90% of respondents considered the use of birth control morally acceptable in 2025, that figure fell to 83% in 2026.

Approval of having children outside marriage also declined significantly. In 2023, 70% of Americans viewed this as morally acceptable. In 2025, the figure stood at 67%, and by 2026 it had fallen to just 58%.

Support for gambling has also continued to decrease. Whereas 71% of respondents considered gambling morally acceptable in 2022, the figure had dropped to 63% in 2025 and has now fallen further to 57%.

Americans have also become less tolerant of sexual relationships between teenagers. In 2022, the level of moral approval reached 46%. By 2026, it had declined to 35%.

A decline was also observed in attitudes toward animal cloning. Today, only 27% of respondents consider it morally acceptable, compared with 40% in 2018.

Gallup analysts noted that all five of these issues showed a “significant” decline in the level of moral approval over the past year.

At the same time, changes on other issues were less pronounced.

For example, 49% of Americans consider abortion morally acceptable, while 41% regard it as morally wrong. A year earlier, the ratio stood at 54% versus 37%, indicating a modest decline in support for abortion.

As for same-sex relationships, 62% of respondents consider them morally acceptable, while 33% regard them as morally wrong. By comparison, the figures a year earlier were 64% and 33%, respectively.

According to Gallup, the survey results may point to a new stage in the evolution of public attitudes in the United States.