Featured Data November 3, 2025

Americans’ Moral Standards Have Become More Definitive

Survey Center Staff

More Americans have come to believe that there are clear and absolute standards for what is right and wrong. Just over a decade ago, only one third of Americans agreed that such clear standards existed. In 2024, that percentage increased to 44 percent. Americans who embraced a notion that morality—what is right and wrong—is situational dropped from 64 percent to 55 percent.  There are stark political differences in views about moral standards. Only 26 percent of liberals say there are clear standards for right and wrong while 63 percent of conservatives say the same thing.