Since the early 2000's, Americans have increasingly become more accepting on issues of moral behavior, with increased favorability towards homosexuality, premarital sex, out-of-wedlock births, and even polygamy. Never fear though, Americans have at least "evolved" on the much-contested issue of animal testing, dropping a total of nine points in over a decade.

The new Gallup Poll surveyed 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, in all 50 states via telephone and discovered much has changed in a very short time. Given the relentless cultural and political push for it, Americans' increased acceptance of homosexuality comes as no shock – up from 40 to 63 percent since 2001 – with the highest level of improvement on the list. Out-of-wedlock births came in second on the list for increased acceptance, with an uptick of 16 percentage points – 45 to 61. Premarital sex came in third place, up from 53 to 68 percent since 2001. Divorce saw a sharp increase from 59 to 71 percent while polygamy saw a fairly significant increase in acceptance, though still in the minority, from 7 to 16 percent.

Though not enjoying huge leaps in acceptance, life issues still did increase in favorability, with the most significant being stem-cell research from human embryos – 52 to 64 percent. Doctor Assisted Suicide saw an increase from 49 to 56 percent while abortion saw only three percent increase from 42 to 45 percent. The only moral issue to remain relatively low in favorability were married men and women having an affair, which saw an insignificant 1 percent increase from 7 to 8 percent.

The only two moral issues to see any decreased favorability were the death penalty and medical testing on animals. Death penalty dropped only 3 points from 63 to 60 percent while animal testing dropped a whopping total of 9 points from 65 to 56.

As noted by Gallup and what should be increasingly obvious to anyone paying attention, candidates looking to run on a ticket of traditional values will have an increasingly uphill battle as Americans become increasingly lax about moral issues. That this poll comes on the heels of another recent eye-opening poll suggesting Americans are becoming less Christian comes as no coincidence.

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