Young Americans less supportive of circumcision at birth

February 03, 2015, 4:46 PM GMT+0

Few circumcised men wish that they hadn't been circumcised, but younger Americans aren't convinced that the procedure should be routine

Even as the national rate of circumcision for male children is falling, doctors are reporting that more and more adult men who are uncircumcised have been deciding to take a brave step and put themselves under the knife. Only 55% of male American babies are now circumcised, but some adults are deciding to take the decision themselves, often apparently for aesthetic reasons.

YouGov's latest research shows that 62% of adult American men report being circumcised, and of those men 86% say that they are happy to have been circumcised. 10% do, however, say that they wish that they had NOT been circumcised.

Younger Americans are much less likely to say that circumcising male children should be routine. Only 33% of under-30s think it should be done routinely, something that increased to 43% of people aged 30-44, 52% of people aged 45 to 64 and 63% of over-65s.

In terms of hygiene, 42% say that circumcised men are more hygienic than uncircumcised men, while 30% say that they are about as hygienic as each other. 4% actually say that uncircumcised men are more hygienic, while 25% aren't sure either way. Women (42%) are not really any more or less likely than men (41%) to say that circumcised men are more hygienic.

Full poll results can be found here and topline results and margin of error here.