Morality poll turns up some surprises
A Gallup Poll released this week about the morality of 16 "social issues" also reveals that a large majority of Americans approve of the death penalty and gambling but not human cloning or suicide. Respondents were asked to label the issues "morally acceptable" or "morally wrong."
Some of the issues raised in the poll are political flashpoints, and the answers sometimes surprising. Nearly half of Americans give a thumbs-up to doctor-assisted suicide. Americans who consider abortion immoral outnumber those who think it's OK: 51 to 40 percent. And 64 percent of Americans think embryonic-stem-cell research is morally acceptable, up 12 points since 2002.
Of all 16 issues, as a nation we're the most conflicted about what the poll described as "homosexual relations": Nearly equal numbers of us answered "acceptable" as answered "wrong." The percent finding those relationships acceptable jumped seven points since 2001 — from 40 to 47 percent — showing a "clear change in attitudes," according to the Gallup News Service.
Not surprisingly, the way we read the results reflects our world view.
"The more visible lesbian and gay people have become in their communities, the less they are seen as immoral," concludes Mike Thompson, executive director of Equality Utah. "They are seen as hard-working women and men who love their families, who attend church and who serve their communities."
That doesn't make the "homosexual lifestyle" any less wrong, argues Utah conservative activist Gayle Ruzicka. "Everyone knows someone living a homosexual lifestyle, often one of their family members," she concedes. "And as they become accepting they decide it's moral. But just because we have family members who are living a homosexual lifestyle doesn't mean it's moral, it just means we have family members who have chosen immoral lifestyles."
Poll answers always depend on how questions are asked and interpreted, cautions Karrie Galloway, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Utah. Did the 51 percent of Americans who answered that abortion is immoral mean for themselves or for others, she wonders. The answer determines whether a poll like this should guide policymakers, she says.
"I would trust anyone to know within their own moral framework whether abortion would be the right decision for them to make, but the question is, 'Are you willing to dictate others' morality?' That's the crux of the whole abortion issue."
David Keller, director of the Center for the Study of Ethics at Utah Valley State College, was dismayed by the fact that apparently 66 percent of the American public thinks the death penalty is morally OK. "After years of studying the topic, I am convinced, hands down, that capital punishment is morally unconscionable and any society practicing it is damaging its own moral fiber."
E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com
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