U.S. support – Gallup’s 2026 Values and Beliefs survey finds U.S. approval of legal same-sex marriage and moral acceptance of gay relationships have fallen from early-2020s highs, alongside a drop in perceived morality of changing one’s gender.
For a stretch of nearly two decades, Americans seemed to move in the same direction on LGBTQ+ rights. Then the upward trend stopped—quietly at first—and now a new Gallup snapshot shows the shift has started to slide back.
Approval for legal same-sex marriage remains the majority view, but it’s lower than the high reached in 2022 and 2023. Today, 65% of Americans say legal same-sex marriages should be supported. That’s down six points from the peak in 2022 and 2023.
Moral acceptance shows an even clearer ceiling. Gallup finds that 62% of Americans view gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable—the lowest share since 2016. And the numbers around gender change have weakened too: 38% now say changing one’s gender is morally acceptable. an eight-point drop over the past five years.
These results come from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted May 1–17, 2026.
The long climb—and where it stalled
Gallup has tracked attitudes for years. Between 1996 and 2022, support for legalizing same-sex marriage rose by 44 points, from 27% to 71%. In 2024, the figure dipped to 69%, and Gallup reports a marginal decline each year since.
When Gallup first asked in 2001 about the morality of same-sex relations, 40% said those relationships were morally acceptable. By 2022, that view reached 71%, before dropping to 64% in 2023. Since then, it has held at about the same level during the past three years.
Attitudes about gender change were also evolving before they stopped. When Gallup first asked in 2021, 46% said changing one’s gender was morally acceptable, while 51% said it was morally wrong. Today, those numbers are 38% and 57%, respectively.
The shift is clearest inside one party
The changes in recent years are not evenly distributed across political groups. Most of the movement in LGBTQ+ attitudes has occurred among Republicans.
For legal same-sex marriage, Gallup reports that in 2021 and 2022, 55% of Republicans favored it. Today, that figure is 37%. Among independents, support has fallen six points to 67%, while Democrats’ views remain the same as in 2022, with 87% in favor.
The pattern shows up again in moral views. Since 2022. at the peak for Republicans. the share who say gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable has fallen 21 points to 35%. Among independents, the decline is eight points to 64%. Democrats show no meaningful change: 81% now say such relations are morally acceptable.
Gallup says that as a result, Republicans’ views of the morality of same-sex relations now look similar to what they were between 2005 and 2014.
Gender-change morality follows the same partisan divide. Currently, 5% of Republicans say changing one’s gender is morally acceptable. Gallup reports 42% among independents and 60% among Democrats. Back when Gallup first asked in 2021, the figures were 22% for Republicans, 48% for independents, and 67% for Democrats. Republicans’ acceptance has declined steadily since then. Gallup also notes that views among independents and Democrats were generally stable until an apparent drop this year.
Where the country stands now
Gallup’s broader takeaway is blunt: after about two decades of increasing support for LGBTQ+ people and their civil rights, pro-LGBTQ+ attitudes peaked roughly five years ago and have edged downward since.
The survey ties the recent shift to a pushback led by conservative leaders against diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.
For now, the majority view on legal same-sex marriage remains intact. But the direction of travel—visible in the declines for moral acceptance of gay relationships and for the perceived morality of changing one’s gender—suggests a plateau that is no longer holding.
Gallup LGBTQ+ attitudes same-sex marriage moral acceptance gender change Republicans independents Democrats values and beliefs survey 2026
Guess people just got tired of it. 65% isn’t even that high anymore.
So they’re saying “morally acceptable” dropped but marriage is still supported? Like how are they measuring morality anyway… seems kinda vague. Also gender change morality being down sounds like newspeak to me.
People must’ve heard the wrong stuff on TikTok and decided to panic. If it dropped from 2022/23 that’s right around when everything got louder online. I don’t even really care about surveys, but numbers going down still feel like a win for conservatives (or whatever).
I feel like this is about politics more than actual beliefs. Like it says support dips, but it’s still majority. And “changing one’s gender” is kinda worded weird like it’s always the same thing. Also wasn’t Gallup doing this every year forever? Not sure why they act surprised that it changes.