Across Canada, the moral acceptability of gambling and medical euthanasia has fallen since 2021.
Vancouver, BC [May 17, 2022] – Only one in six Canadians has no moral concerns about the existence of infidelity in a marriage, a new survey by Research Co. has found.
The online survey of a representative national sample asked Canadians whether they considered 21 different topics “morally acceptable” or “morally wrong.”
Just 16% of Canadians think married men and/or women having an affair are morally acceptable, down two points from a similar Research Co. poll conducted in April 2021.
“Across Canada, more than one in five men (22%) think it is moral to have affairs with a married person,” said Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Only 10% of Canadian women share the same view.”
More than two-thirds of Canadians consider four other issues to be morally justifiable: contraception (75%, -1), divorce (73%, -4), sexual relations between unmarried men and women (69%, -3) and having a baby outside of marriage (also 69%, =).
More than half of Canadians consider sexual relations between two people of the same sex (59%, -3), abortion (55%, -2) and medical research using stem cells from human embryos (also 55%, =) to be morally acceptable. Proportions are lower for four other issues: pornography (31%, =), prostitution (30%, -3), polygamy (19%, =), human cloning (12%, =) and pedophilia (4%, – 1 ).
When it comes to animals, more than a third of Canadians (36%, -2) say buying and wearing clothing made from animal fur is ethical, while fewer think about animal testing for medicine (25%, +1). and animal cloning (19%, =).
Two in five Canadians (40%, -1) believe the death penalty is morally acceptable. Significantly fewer have similar views on the use of illegal drugs (18%, -2) and suicide (also 18%, =).
Just over three in five Canadians (61%, -4) believe that medical euthanasia is moral. Canadians 55+ are more likely to feel this way (66%) than are 35-54 year olds (58%) and 18-34 year olds (57%).
Canadians of European descent are significantly more likely to say that medical euthanasia is ethical (71%) than their East Asian (49%) and South Asian (38%) counterparts.
Just over half of Canadians (52%, -5) think gambling is moral.
Quebec is the only province where less than half of residents (48%) say gambling is moral. The proportions are higher in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (51%), Alberta and Ontario (53% each), Atlantic Canada (54%) and British Columbia (58%).
Methodology: The results are based on an online study conducted on May 7-9, 2022 among 1,000 adults in Canada. Data were statistically weighted according to Canadian census numbers for age, gender and region. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen out of twenty.
Our data tables can be found here and the press release can be downloaded here.
For more information about this survey, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490 [e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca
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