New Zealanders’ Opinions On Moral Issues

[Full release: MoralityOfNewZealanders_Aug09.pdf]

UMR Omnibus Results
August 2009

New Zealanders’ Opinions On Moral Issues

Key findings

- UMR tested New Zealanders’ attitudes to a number of moral issues. More than two thirds of New Zealanders regard the following issues as morally acceptable:
• Divorce (81% say this is acceptable).
• Sex between an unmarried man and woman (77% acceptable).
• Having a baby outside marriage (71% acceptable).

- Although men are more accepting of sex outside of marriage, women are more accepting of divorce..
• 79% of men and75% of women believe that sex between unmarried heterosexual partners is acceptable.
• 78% of men and83% of women think that divorce is acceptable.

- Polygamy and married people having affairs are however clearly seen as unacceptable.
• 85% see polygamy as morally wrong, including 79% of men and 91% of women .
• 83% believe married partners having heterosexual affairs is morally wrong, including 77% of men and 89% of women .

- 61% believe that homosexual relations are morally acceptable.
• There is a significant gender split on this issue, with homosexual relations seen as morally acceptable by 69% of women but only 53% of men .
• 71% of those under 44 years old see homosexual relations as morally acceptable, compared with only 41% of those aged 60 years or older.

- Although a majority accept stem cell research using human embryos, there is little support for human cloning.
• 63% think that stem cell research is acceptable, including 69% of men and 57% of women.
• Just 7% believe human cloning is acceptable, including 11% of men and just 4% of women.

- 55% of New Zealanders believe that abortion is morally acceptable while 34% feel it is morally wrong.
• The gender difference on this issue is not statistically significant (54% of men and 56% of women say abortion is morally acceptable).

- 43% say that the death penalty is morally acceptable, while 50% think that it is morally wrong.
• Men are again clearly more supportive than women of the death penalty (47% to 39%).

[Full release: MoralityOfNewZealanders_Aug09.pdf]

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