Solid majority of Americans say state of moral values getting worse: poll

A solid majority of Americans, or 73 percent, continue to say state of morals in the United states is getting worse, according to a recent Gallup poll.

In comparison, only 20 percent of Americans say the state of moral values in the United States is getting better, found the May 4-8 poll that was released this week.

Over a 15-year trend, solid majorities of Americans have consistently viewed the direction of the country's values negatively, ranging from 67 percent in 2002 and 2003 to 82 percent in 2007, Gallup said.

Republicans and independents who lean Republican (84 percent) continue to be more likely than Democrats and independents who lean Democratic (61 percent) to say the state of moral values in the United States is getting worse.

Prior to 2007, both groups were about equally likely to view the direction of the country's morals negatively, according to Gallup.

From 2003 to 2007, Republicans became increasingly likely to say the state of morals in the U.S. was deteriorating. In 2007, that figure reached 88 percent. It has generally remained close to that level since 2007.

Democrats, on the other hand, have become less likely to view the state of moral values as declining since the end of the George W. Bush administration in 2009.

In line with their pessimism about the direction of moral values in the country, U.S. adults are much more likely to describe the current state of moral values as "poor" (43 percent) or "only fair" (36 percent) than to say it is "excellent/good" (18 percent), the poll showed.

The highest percentage ever saying that the state of moral values was excellent/good was 23 percent in 2011.

While Americans point to many ways in which they see the country's morals getting worse, they are most likely to say they see a decline in U.S. standards and a lack of respect for one another, as well as poor values instilled by parents and reflected among government officials, Gallup noted. Endit