Overview
- The May 1–17, 2026 Gallup Values and Beliefs poll found year‑over‑year declines in moral acceptability for multiple behaviors, with several measures hitting record lows.
- Approval of using birth control fell to 83 percent from 90 percent in 2025, the lowest level since Gallup began asking about the issue in 2012.
- Acceptance of having children outside marriage dropped to 58 percent after peaking near 70 percent in 2022–23, and gambling’s moral acceptability fell to a record low of 57 percent.
- The poll shows wide partisan gaps on questions such as abortion and changing one’s gender and Gallup says much of this year’s movement was concentrated among political independents.
- Gallup surveyed 1,001 U.S. adults by phone with a ±4 percentage‑point margin of error, and analysts link the shifts to broader cultural and political trends that could affect public debate and policy over time.