America earns low rating on moral values, Barna says

Fewer than one-fifth of Americans give the nation high ratings on the state of its moral values, a new Gallup Poll shows.

Eighteen percent of American adults described moral values in the United States as “good” or “excellent,” compared to 41 percent who said they were “only fair” and 40 percent who said they were “poor.”

People who attend church weekly are more likely to believe moral conditions are poor (52 percent) than are people who attend almost weekly (35 percent) or less often than that (34 percent), the Gallup Organization reported.

Researchers found that issues regarding sexuality were significant factors for those who rate the country’s moral values negatively. For example, 33 percent of those who said moral conditions were fair or poor described homosexual behavior as morally acceptable, compared to 58 percent of those who said the conditions were excellent or good.

There was a 20 percent gap between those who viewed the moral climate in the nation positively and those who rated it negatively when they were asked about abortion, having a baby outside of marriage and sex between an unmarried man and woman. For instance, 61 percent of those who were positive about the nation’s moral condition said having a baby outside of marriage was morally acceptable, compared to 41 percent of those who thought more negatively about moral conditions.

The May poll was based on telephone interviews of 1,012 adults. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.