In 25-Country Survey, Americans Especially Likely To View Fellow Citizens as Morally Bad
A Pew survey shows 53% of American adults view fellow citizens' morality negatively, the highest among 25 countries surveyed worldwide in early 2025.
- A slim majority—53%—of American adults said the morality and ethics of people in the U.S. were somewhat or very bad, according to Pew Research Center's report released on Thursday .
- Partisan divides help explain the result, with Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents more likely than Republicans to rate fellow Americans as morally bad , based on Pew Research Center's Spring 2025 Global Attitudes Survey using American Trends Panel samples.
- Among specific behaviors, extramarital affairs drew the strongest disapproval, with nine-in-ten American respondents condemning affairs while only 23% and 29% disapproved of using marijuana and gambling.
- By contrast, Pew's authors cautioned they had never asked this question before, so they cannot determine if the U.S. result is new or what drives it, despite stark country differences.
- In demographic terms, younger Americans were more likely to rate compatriots' morals as bad, with 57% of American adults under 40 versus 50% of American adults over 40; people with lower levels of education and those who say religion is very important also made harsher judgments.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Americans Likely To View Fellow Citizens as Morally Bad
“Americans are more likely than people in other countries surveyed in 2025 to question the morality of their fellow countrymen,” Pew Research reports. “In nearly all countries surveyed, more people say that others in their country have somewhat or very good morals than say their compatriots display somewhat or very bad levels of morality.” “The United States is the only place we surveyed where more adults (ages 18 and older) describe the moralit…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Right
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium












