A new survey shows that acceptance of porn is increasing–especially among young men.
In the survey, “More Americans Say Pornography Is Morally Acceptable,” Gallup reported that 43% of Americans “now believe pornography is ‘morally acceptable,’ a seven-percentage-point increase from last year, and the the highest level since Gallup first began measuring moral perceptions of pornography in 2011.”
The survey further showed that unmarried men aged 18 to 49 displayed the biggest increase in finding pornography “morally acceptable” — up 14 points since 2017 to 67% acceptable.
And, for the first time on record, “a majority of Democrats (53%) say pornography is morally acceptable,” up 11 percentage points since 2017, reported Gallup, which also found that just 27% of Republicans find porn “morally acceptable,” up two percentage points over last year.
The question asked was, “I’m going to read you a list of issues. Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable. How about — pornography?” Forty-three percent said it is morally acceptable.
That 43% is up from 36% in 2017, 34% in 2016, and 30% in 2011.
Since 2011, the survey has found “considerable evidence that Americans are becoming increasingly liberal in terms of what actions or behaviors they find morally acceptable,” reported Gallup.
Americans are becoming more accepting of “doctor-assisted suicide, gay/lesbian relations, sex between unmarried people and having a baby out of wedlock,” said the survey firm. Pornography, out of 16 behaviors, has seen the biggest increase in acceptance between 2011 and 2018.
The most striking difference and growth however was when you compare acceptance based on political identification.
Gallup found that, “Democrats’ acceptance of pornography has grown by 21 points since 2011.”
“The 27% of Republicans who regard pornography as morally acceptable is generally stable this year compared with last year’s 25%,” said Gallup. “However, Republicans have become somewhat more accepting of pornography since 2011, with the percentage ‘morally acceptable’ rising by 11 points.”
Forty-five percent of Independents said pornography is “morally acceptable,” up 5 points from last year.
The biggest spikes in porn-acceptance were among “non-married individuals and men aged 18 to 49,” according to the survey.
For the non-married, 50% said pornography was “morally acceptable,” up 15 points since 2017. For men aged 18 to 49, some 67% said porn was okay, a 14-point increase from 2017.
Commenting on the survey results, Catholic League President Bill Donohue said, “As expected, young unmarried men are the most approving of porn (as we know, they are also its biggest consumers).”
Donahue said it should not comes as a surprise. “Why should we be surprised to learn that morally vacuous young males are the most likely to be sexually reckless? They always have been. The difference now is there are so many more of them, the ultimate losers being women.”
Gallup said that, “even behaviors that most Americans still consider beyond the pale, such as polygamy, have seen a notable increase in acceptability.” Thus, it is not surprising to see the spike in acceptability for porn.
The telephone-interview survey was conducted May 1-10, 2018, with a random sample of 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error was +/- 4 percentage points.
