Majority of Americans Now Approve of Sex Before Marriage, Poll Shows     5/31/2001

Majority of Americans Now Approve of Sex Before Marriage, Poll Shows
By Martha Kleder

Americans are more accepting of sex outside marriage, according to a Gallup poll released last week. While in 1969 Gallup found that 68 percent of Americans viewed pre-marital sex as wrong, the new survey found that only 38 percent now feel that way.

In its poll of 491 adults, Gallup found that nearly two-thirds (60%) of Americans say premarital sex is okay, and more than half (52%) say that living together is morally acceptable. The poll has a margin of error of 5 percent.

“We’ve known the trends toward single-mother families and cohabitation were moving upward sharply. Now, Gallup is looking at the values and beliefs that are producing those trends,” Dr. Janice Crouse, Director of the Beverly LaHaye Institute, told C&F Report. “If America doesn’t soon face up to what is happening, the traditional family will continue on the pathway to extinction. If that happens, our culture and our freedom are doomed.”

Acceptance of pre-marital sex was particularly strong among younger Americans. The survey found 67 percent of young adults find premarital sex morally acceptable compared to 46 percent among adults aged 50-to-64. Those adults who came of age during the sexual revolution lean more toward the views of the younger generation, with 60 percent of 30-49 year-olds approving of premarital sex.

Related attitudes have followed that trend. “I was blinded by the number of Americans who said it’s not immoral for a couple to have a child out of wedlock,” Maggie Gallagher, Director of the Marriage Project for the Institute for American Values, told C&F Report. “I was struck by how powerful and sudden the shift was.”

Not surprisingly, Americans find divorce morally acceptable as well. Gallup’s survey found that barely more than a quarter of Americans (28%) believe that divorce is morally unacceptable, while 59% think that divorce is morally okay.

“This growing acceptance of divorce is another broken strand, further weakening marriage ties in America,” Gallagher said. “Without the mainstay of the two-parent family, the basic fabric of our society will unravel.”

Despite the loosening attitudes on sex outside of marriage, Americans appear to practice a more traditional lifestyle. Among the respondents who report having a child under age 18, 66 percent are currently married. However, Gallup’s figures do not calculate for those who are remarried.

“The best news is that there is a continuing strong counter culture that sees sex as a moral issue,” Gallagher said. “A large minority of Americans are clinging rather firmly to the sexual norms that dominated for thousands of years,” she added, noting that much of this number comes from those holding strong religious views.

Such people have another advantage over their peers, according to Gallagher: “Those who believe in the relationship between sex and child rearing are more committed to other things that keep marriages strong.”

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