2nd June 2013

America is becoming more liberal on social issues

According to Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll, ideological attitudes in the U.S. are shifting to the left.

While economic liberalism remains stagnant, the percentage describing their social views as "liberal" or "very liberal" has achieved a new peak of 30%. This is 6% higher than in 2001. Of those who already consider themselves Democrat or leaning Democrat, the trend is even more pronounced, with 50% now having liberal views on social issues, compared to 35% in 2001. The percentage of Democrat or leaning Democrat voters with "conservative" views on social issues has dropped from 20% in 2001 to just 14% now.

Gallup conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,535 adults, aged 18 and older, in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The interpretation of what qualifies as "social issues" was left to the respondent; the question did not define or provide examples of these types of issues. However, the survey results are in line with Gallup's recent finding that Americans are more accepting on a wide range of moral issues – including gay marriage, abortion, having a baby outside of marriage, divorce, polygamy, human cloning and the use of stem cells in medical research. These trends appear set to continue until at least 2020.

Comments »