{"id":290236,"date":"2026-03-05T09:52:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=290236"},"modified":"2026-03-25T17:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:48:11","slug":"in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2026\/03\/05\/in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"In 25-Country Survey, Americans Especially Likely To View Fellow Citizens as Morally Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
About this research<\/summary>\n

This Pew Research Center analysis explores how adults in 25 countries rate the morality of other people in their country. It also describes how many people around the world consider different behaviors (such as drinking alcohol, gambling and having affairs) to be morally wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pew Research Center conducts high-quality research to inform the public, journalists and leaders. Studying religion and related topics, such as morality, has long been part of the Center\u2019s research around the world. Learn more about Pew Research Center<\/a> and our other research on religion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For data outside the United States, this analysis draws on nationally representative surveys of 28,333 adults conducted from Jan. 8 to April 26, 2025. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Surveys were conducted face-to-face in Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and Turkey. In Australia, we used a mixed-mode probability-based online panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., we surveyed 3,605 adults from March 24 to 30, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP)<\/a>. This report also includes some findings from a separate ATP survey of 8,937 U.S. adults conducted from May 5 to 11, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the questions used for this analysis<\/a>, along with responses, and the survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Americans are more likely than people in other countries surveyed in 2025 to question the morality of their fellow countrymen, according to Pew Research Center surveys in 25 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked people around the world to rate the morality and ethics of others in their country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In nearly all countries surveyed, more people say that others in their country have somewhat or very good<\/em> morals than say their compatriots display somewhat or very bad<\/em> levels of morality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States is the only place we surveyed where more adults (ages 18 and older) describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad (53%) than as good (47%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because we have never asked this question before, we don\u2019t know whether a majority of Americans have long held a skeptical view of the ethics of fellow Americans, or if it\u2019s something new \u2013 and if so, what\u2019s driving it. But partisan politics appear to play a role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party are much more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to rate fellow Americans as morally and ethically bad (60% vs. 46%). And previous research has shown that rising numbers of both<\/em> Republicans and Democrats say people in the other party are immoral<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this partisan pattern is not unique to the U.S. In more than half of the countries surveyed, people who don\u2019t support the governing party are particularly likely to view their fellow citizens as immoral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another possibility could be that Americans are more moralistic, in general, than people in other countries \u2013 that is, they\u2019re more inclined to judge various behaviors to be immoral or sinful. But the results of other survey questions don\u2019t support the idea that the U.S. public is especially judgmental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked people in 25 countries whether nine different behaviors \u2013 including having an abortion and drinking alcohol \u2013 are morally unacceptable, morally acceptable or not a moral issue. On most of the nine behaviors, the U.S. is somewhere in the middle of the pack: It\u2019s neither the country where the highest percentage of adults view each behavior as morally wrong, nor is it the country where the highest percentage say the same behavior is morally acceptable or not a moral issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, 39% of U.S. adults say homosexuality<\/strong> is morally wrong \u2013 far more than take that position in Germany or Sweden (5% each) but far fewer than in Indonesia (93%) or Nigeria (96%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the U.S. is among the countries whose inhabitants are most likely to condemn extramarital affairs<\/strong> as immoral. Nine-in-ten Americans say that married people having an affair is morally wrong, similar to the share of people in Indonesia and Turkey (92% each) who take the same position. Adults in Germany (55%) and France (53%) are among the least<\/em> likely to say that having an affair outside of marriage is morally unacceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. adults are also among the most accepting<\/em> of a couple of behaviors: using marijuana and gambling. Just 23% of Americans say using marijuana<\/strong> is morally unacceptable, and 29% say the same about gambling.<\/strong> In most other countries surveyed, upward of 40% of adults consider gambling and using marijuana to be morally wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of the nine behaviors we asked about, extramarital affairs drew the strongest overall disapproval. Across the 25 countries, a median of 77% of adults say that married people<\/strong> having an affair<\/strong> is morally unacceptable. At least half of adults in every country surveyed take this view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is a median?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In this analysis, median scores are used to help readers see overall patterns in the data. The median percentage is the middle number in a list of all percentages sorted from highest to lowest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the spectrum, using<\/strong> contraception<\/strong> and getting a<\/strong> divorce<\/strong> are the most widely accepted of the nine behaviors. In nearly all 25 countries, two-thirds or more of adults say these behaviors are either morally acceptable or not a moral issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump to a summary table<\/a> showing how many adults in each country say each of the nine behaviors is morally unacceptable. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We find much less international consensus on some issues, such as having an abortion.<\/strong> In the Latin American and African countries surveyed, half or more of adults say abortions are morally unacceptable. But in most European countries included in the survey, the vast majority of adults view abortions as either morally acceptable or not a moral issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another topic on which views differ widely around the world is gambling.<\/strong> In 10 countries, a majority says gambling is morally wrong, including 89% in Indonesia and 71% in Italy. Meanwhile, in another 10 countries, a majority says gambling is morally acceptable or not a moral issue. In Australia, for instance, two-thirds of adults do not express moral qualms about gambling: 25% say gambling is morally acceptable, and 43% do not see gambling as a moral issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study presents new findings from Pew Research Center surveys of more than 30,000 people in 25 countries conducted Jan. 8-May 11, 2025. It also explores:<\/p>\n\n\n\n