Is Sex Outside Marriage Morally Acceptable? American Opinion Over Time

What do Americans think about sex before marriage?

A solid majority of Americans, 65% in Gallup's 2026 reading, consider sex between an unmarried man and woman morally acceptable. The poll, part of Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, was fielded May 1–17, 2026 by telephone among 1,001 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points. Another 31% called such sex morally wrong and 4% had no opinion ^[2].

Gallup's moral-issues series asks about the same list of behaviors every year, which lets readers compare them. In 2026, divorce was judged acceptable by 74% of respondents, sex between an unmarried man and woman by 65%, and having a baby outside marriage by 58%, while polygamy was acceptable to only 19% ^[2]. Unmarried sex therefore sits in the middle of the list: far more accepted than polygamy, a little less than divorce.

The wording is worth noting. "Morally acceptable" is a judgment of conscience rather than a legal or religious test, and Gallup's earlier questions used a different formula, so the two series cannot be spliced into one line. Nor does either tell us how many people actually behave in this way; for behavior, see the statistics on premarital sex in the US.

Share of Americans calling sex between an unmarried man and woman morally acceptable (Gallup)

Year	Morally acceptable
2001	53%
2005	58%
2010	59%
2015	68%
2020	72%
2022	76%
2023	72%
2024	69%
2025	68%
2026	65% (31% morally wrong)

How has opinion changed since 2001?

Acceptance rose by 23 points between 2001 and 2022, then fell by 11 points by 2026. Gallup's series shows 53% acceptable in 2001 and 2002 (with 42% calling it wrong in 2001), then 57% to 61% through the rest of the 2000s ^[3][7]. A new step upward came after 2012: 63% in 2013, 66% in 2014, 68% in 2015 and 72% in 2020 ^[7]. The high point was 76% in 2022 ^[7].

Older Gallup wording gives a longer view. When the company asked in July 1969 whether it is wrong for a man and a woman to have sexual relations before marriage, 68% said yes and 21% said no. The balance was nearly even in 1973 (47% wrong, 43% not wrong), and by 1985 more people said it was not wrong (52%) than wrong (39%); by May 2001, 60% said it was not wrong and 38% said it was ^[3]. In that sense, the central change in American opinion took place between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s, long before the 2001 starting point of the moral-acceptability series.

A related question, whether having a baby outside marriage is morally acceptable, moved in parallel for years, from 45% in 2002 to 70% in 2022 and 2023 ^[7]. In 2021, Gallup's Frank Newport summarized the movement of several items since the early 2000s, including sex between an unmarried man and woman (53% to 73%), divorce (59% to 79%) and gay and lesbian relations (40% to 69%) ^[4]. In Gallup's yearly table, both unmarried sex (76%) and divorce (81%) peaked in 2022 ^[7].

Why did acceptance dip after 2022?

Gallup has not published an explanation, and the sources consulted for this article do not establish one. What the numbers show is a steady decline: 76% in 2022, then 72%, 69%, 68% and 65% in successive years ^[1][7]. The 2026 report on moral acceptability describes the broader movement toward more permissive views as one that "has largely plateaued or pulled back in recent years," without giving causes ^[2].

Gallup's own 2021 commentary placed these numbers in a wider social frame. Frank Newport noted that about four in ten American babies were being born to unmarried mothers and that both marriage and birth rates were declining, so that looser moral judgments coexisted with shrinking family formation ^[4]. His table also showed acceptance of sex between teenagers rising from 32% in 2013 to 43% in 2021, a much lower level than for adults ^[4].

Sampling error should temper any reading of a single year. With a margin of error of about 4 points on a sample of about 1,000, a one-year change of three points, as between 2025 (68%) and 2026 (65%), is within the margin, while the eleven-point drop from 2022 is not ^[2][7]. The direction of the trend is therefore more reliable than any single reading.

The 2026 results also show that the decline was not limited to this one question. Acceptance of having a baby outside marriage fell nine points in a year, from 67% in 2025 to 58% in 2026 ^[2]. Independents' acceptance of divorce fell 14 points in the same year, while Republicans' rose 12 ^[2]. Explanations for these shifts remain open questions rather than findings of the surveys.

How do religious groups differ?

Religious affiliation sets some of the widest gaps in American opinion about unmarried sex, with white evangelical Protestants the least accepting and the religiously unaffiliated the most. Gallup's 2026 release reports only party breakdowns ^[2], so the clearest evidence on religion comes from two Pew Research Center surveys from 2019. The first, an online survey of 9,834 adults conducted from June 25 to July 8, 2019, asked whether it is acceptable for unmarried couples to live together even without plans to marry. About 90% of the religiously unaffiliated said yes, against 76% of white non-evangelical Protestants, 74% of Catholics, 47% of Black Protestants and 35% of white evangelical Protestants ^[5].

The pattern extends to views of marriage itself. Pew found that 78% of white evangelicals said society is better off if long-term couples eventually marry, compared with 31% of the unaffiliated ^[5]. These are attitudes toward cohabitation and marriage rather than toward sex as such, but they point in the same direction. A second Pew survey, fielded October 16–28, 2019 among 3,998 adults, asked about sex between unmarried adults in a committed relationship: 79% of the religiously unaffiliated said it is sometimes or always acceptable, against 67% of mainline Protestants, 64% of Catholics, 57% of historically Black Protestants and 46% of evangelical Protestants ^[8].

Religious teaching explains part of the gap. Evangelical, Catholic and Latter-day Saint traditions all teach that sexual relations belong within marriage, while other groups hold more varied positions. Readers who want the doctrines themselves can turn to the page on evangelicals and sex before marriage, and the survey differences by faith are explored further in faith and sex outside marriage.

Do age and politics shape views?

Yes: both age and party predict how people answer, and party is the clearest division in the 2026 data. Among Republicans, 46% called sex between an unmarried man and woman morally acceptable, compared with 66% of independents and 83% of Democrats, a gap of 37 points between the two parties ^[2]. The same ordering holds for having a baby outside marriage (44%, 56% and 76%) and for divorce (66%, 69% and 87%) ^[2].

Age was a major divider in earlier Gallup data. In 2001, 67% of young adults (Gallup did not define the group by age) said unmarried sex was acceptable, against 60% of those 30 to 49, 46% of those 50 to 64 and 28% of those 65 and older ^[3]. The Pew survey of 2019 found a smaller but similar pattern for cohabitation, with 78% of adults under 30 saying it was acceptable even without plans to marry, against 63% of those 65 and over ^[5]. The 2026 Gallup release provides no age breakdown in the portion read for this article ^[2].

The divides overlap. Religious and political identities are correlated in the United States, so a gap by party partly reflects a gap by religion, and the published tables read for this article do not separate the two. The 2001 poll shows the age gap at its widest, with 39 points between the youngest and oldest groups, while the 2026 release shows 37 points between the parties ^[2][3].

Because the party gap is so large, shifts in the partisan balance of a sample can move the headline number by several points. This is one reason why researchers prefer to look at trends across several years rather than at a single poll.

How does the US compare with other countries?

The United States is among the more accepting countries, though it sits well short of the most permissive. In a 2013 Pew Research Center survey of 40 countries, published in April 2014, a median of 46% said sex between unmarried adults is morally unacceptable, 24% called it acceptable and 16% said it is not a moral issue ^[6]. In the United States, 30% said it was unacceptable, with a majority saying it was either acceptable or not a moral issue ^[6].

The range across countries was wide. Pakistan stood at 94% calling the behavior unacceptable and Japan at 21% ^[6]. The American figure, close to Japan's and far from Pakistan's, shows that on this question the country is nearer to the permissive end of the global spread. Pew's data are from 2013, so they predate both the 2022 peak and the decline since.

The same survey asked about other behaviors, and the results show how selective moral attitudes are. In the United States, 22% called divorce morally unacceptable, and a majority said it was either acceptable or not a moral issue ^[6]. On extramarital affairs, an overwhelming majority of Americans called the behavior unacceptable, while France was the only country in the survey where fewer than half did (47% unacceptable) ^[6]. Americans, in other words, are more tolerant than most countries about sex between single adults, yet less tolerant than the French about affairs.

The comparison also illustrates a wider point. Moral acceptability is a reading of social norms in a given period, and it can move in both directions, as the American numbers since 2022 show. For the legal side of the question, which is a separate matter from opinion, see the guide to states that still list fornication in their codes.

Frequently asked questions

Do most Americans think premarital sex is wrong?

No. In Gallup's May 2026 poll, 65% said sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable and 31% said it is morally wrong. Majorities have called it acceptable in every Gallup reading since 2001.

Which group is least accepting?

Among the groups measured in recent polls, Republicans and white evangelical Protestants are the least accepting. In 2026, 46% of Republicans called unmarried sex acceptable, against 83% of Democrats. In a 2019 Pew survey, only 35% of white evangelicals said living together without plans to marry is acceptable.

How does the US compare with other countries?

It is on the permissive side. In Pew's 2013 survey of 40 countries, 30% of Americans called sex between unmarried adults morally unacceptable, against a 40-country median of 46%. Pakistan was at 94% and Japan at 21%.

When did Americans start to accept premarital sex?

The main change came between 1969 and 1985. In 1969, 68% told Gallup that premarital sex was wrong; by 1985, 52% said it was not wrong. Gallup's moral-acceptability series, which began in 2001, shows acceptance rising further from 53% to 76% by 2022.

Has acceptance fallen recently?

Yes, from a peak of 76% in 2022 to 65% in 2026. The drop has come in steps of 4, 3, 1 and 3 points. Gallup describes the broader trend toward more permissive moral views as having plateaued or pulled back.

Do Americans accept having a baby outside marriage?

A majority do, but fewer than a year earlier. In Gallup's 2026 poll, 58% called it morally acceptable and 35% called it wrong, down from 67% acceptable in 2025.