America’s faith in the country’s moral values is at its lowest point since 2002, according to a new Gallup poll.
The study, released by Gallup early this month, shows 49 percent of Americans believe the moral value of the nation to be “poor,” while another 37 percent rate it as “only fair." Only 14 percent rated our moral value as “excellent/good.”
But is there a chance that things are getting better?
Well, it doesn’t look like it. A full 77 percent of respondents said they believe our values are consistently getting worse, while only 18 percent said they're improving.
While there's general consensus that the nation's morals are on a downhill trend, there are differences in opinion between political parties.
On a -100 to a +100 scale, Republicans' view of America’s moral value went from -62 in 2015 to -48 in 2018. But among Democrats, their view of America’s values went from -14 in 2015 to -40 in 2018.
Unsurprisingly, while Democrats saw only slight declines in our moral trajectory during the George W. Bush administration and the Obama years, their view of our nation's moral value has plummeted since Donald Trump's inauguration.
That story is very different amongst Republicans.
During the Bush and Obama years, Republicans reported seeing a decline in the moral value of the country. Since President Trump’s inauguration, though, their overall view has improved by over 10 points. This comes as no surprise, since Trump’s approval ratings amongst Republicans is currently at 87 percent.
But while there is a difference between the parties on this view, everyone still seems to agree on one thing: on the whole, the United States is in a moral decline.