Men and women agree that sleeping around is cheating, but women are much more likely to condemn joining a dating website or app
Women are more likely than men to consider each one of the activities listed to be cheating, with the gender gap ranging from two to 17 points. The largest divide between men and women centers on whether or not it is cheating to kiss someone else – 61% of men say that it is, compared to 78% of women who consider it cheating. Men and women are also significantly divided on whether it's cheating to send flirty messages to people, and whether it's wrong to sign up to a dating site or app (such as Tinder) while in a relationship.
The vast majority of the country, regardless of gender, agree that it is cheating to regularly have sex with someone else apart from your partner (91%), have a one night stand with someone else (92%) and pay for sex with a prostitute (89%).
Pornography and fantasy
The US might be home to the world's largest pornographic industry, pulling in more money each year than the NFL, NBA and MLB combined, but for 26% of the country if you watch it while you're in a relationship you're being unfaithful. Similarly, 27% of the public think that you're cheating if you fantasize about someone else, though for most of the public doing any of these (or visiting a strip club) does not mean that you're betraying your significant other.
Protestants, on the whole, tend to be more conservative than Catholics about what exactly does and does not constitute cheating. Over a third (35%) of Protestants consider viewing pornography to be cheating, compared to less than a quarter of Catholics (23%). Similarly, Democrats tend to be more liberal than Republicans, 38% of whom think that having fantasies about other people is cheating, compared to 20% of Democrats.
Full poll results can be found here.
Image: Getty
