A growing number of Democrats are softening their stance on the concept of marital infidelity, a new survey reveals.
In 2000, 85% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats found sex with someone other than your spouse to be “always wrong,” according to data from the General Social Survey (GSS), the leading barometer for Americans’ views on social issues. As of 2022, 84% of Republicans have maintained their view on the matter, while Democrats have seen a 17% decrease, with 60% remaining unchanged.
Democrats are 23% more likely to report cheating on their spouse, according to a study from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS).
The rise of open relationships, also known as polyamory, has contributed to an increased partisan divide over marital fidelity, according to IFS. Polyamorists believe in the practice of maintaining intimate relationships with multiple partners simultaneously.
Due to their left-wing views on sex and gender, Democrats are more likely to support polyamory, which is “advertised as maximizing personal choice and sexual fulfillment, two core progressive values,” according to IFS.
“The main difference is that a driving philosophy of polyamory is to use your jealousy for self-growth. Jealousy is not a reason to make your partner stop something, it’s a reason to figure out why you felt this emotion in the first place,” according to Polyamory For Us.
A slight majority of people under the age of 30 say that an open marriage is acceptable, according to a 2023 Pew poll. Married adults and adults who have been married are more likely to say open marriages are unacceptable, while adults who are unmarried but living with their partner are most likely to find open marriages acceptable.
People who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are more likely to find open marriage permissible than their straight counterparts, according to Pew.
The GSS 2022 Cross-section survey is a multi-mode study of adults 18 or older living in non-institutional housing at the time of interviewing. Respondents participated in either an in-person interview, a self-administered internet questionnaire or telephone interview.
The survey resulted in 4,149 completed responses from respondents.
