Polling by YouGov has found that Americans largely believe moral values in the U.S. are weakening, an opinion that has remained the majority one for decades.
But an academic paper recently published in Nature suggests that this perception is not substantiated by more objective metrics of morality. Just before the paper was published, YouGov had run a series of surveys on various aspects of morality in the U.S. that sheds some light on the discussion around the potential moral decline of the country.
YouGov data reveals that most Americans (53%) say that moral values in the U.S. are currently weak or very weak, and 57% say moral values are continuing to weaken. However, more Americans say U.S. society is less moral now than it was 10 or 50 years ago than say U.S. society is less moral now than it was 100, 200, or 250 years ago. That suggests that for many Americans, U.S. morality peaked in the last half century.
Mirroring the authors’ findings in the Nature paper, older Americans are more likely than younger adults to say the U.S. is less moral now than it was in each of the five time periods they were asked about.
Although this isn’t touched on in the paper, people’s thoughts about morality are sometimes intertwined with their views on religion. About one-quarter say morality comes from a god or a higher power, with Americans 45 and older more likely than younger adults to agree with this stance. Furthermore, 32% of Americans say it is necessary for a person to believe in a god or higher power in order for them to be moral. Considering the documented decline in the importance of religion in the U.S., Americans’ opinions about the morality of their contemporaries could also be influenced by how strongly intertwined religion and morality are for them.
Consistent with the paper’s findings, YouGov data shows that Americans think their friends and family are overall more selfless than Americans in general. Most Americans (57%) say that people, in general, behave selfishly more often than selflessly, but only 25% also say the same about their circle of friends and family.
Whereas the academic paper looks more specifically at the degree to which people are “kind, honest, nice, and good” as a proxy for morality, YouGov asked Americans what they considered to be moral behavior. Among the options offered in the poll, 34% of Americans say behaving morally means doing everything one can which leads to good outcomes for everyone, 25% say it means acting in accordance to your own conscience, 15% say it means following your duties and obligations in life irrespective of the consequences, and 14% say it means following the moral teachings of your religion. Although the traits that the authors asked about are related to the definitions of moral behavior that YouGov polled, it is possible that differences in perceptions of morality between the author’s data and YouGov’s could be due to nuances in these definitions; being kind, honest, nice, and good might not always line up with, say, acting in accordance to your own conscience.
While YouGov did not specifically inquire about the specific traits in the academic paper, the survey did investigate the criteria by which individuals determine whether someone should be considered a good or bad person based on their actions. One-third (34%) of Americans say someone who stole money should be considered a bad person even if they gave most of the money to charity afterward, and 19% say that a person who once seriously hurt someone emotionally should be considered a bad person, even if the person feels remorse for their actions. There is a bigger gap among older adults than among younger ones in how many assess each action as indicative of being a bad person.
Related:
- Morality and religion: How closely do Americans think they are related?
- Do Americans consider AI in courtrooms, hiring, and the military to be moral?
- Do Americans think being moral is the same thing as following the law?
- Which actions — and people — do Americans consider immoral?
- How do Americans think about morality in the U.S. today?
- The moral state of American politics
- How do Americans view the morality of personal and societal health decisions?
See the results for the October 27 - 31, 2022 and November 15 - 21, 2022 YouGov polls
Methodology
The October 27 - 31, 2022 poll includes data from two online polls conducted October 27 - 31, 2022 and October 28 - 31, 2022 — each among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens. The 2,000 respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to March 15, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 28% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 2%.
The November 15 - 21, 2022 poll includes data from two online polls conducted November 15 - 18 and November 16 - 21, 2022 — each among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens. The 2,000 respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to March 15, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 28% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 2%.
Image: Pexels (Lukas)
