CHANGING MORALITY: THE TWO AMERICAS A TIME-Louis Harris Poll

(2 of 5)

"Perhaps the most dramatic evidence in the entire poll on how rapidly American morality is changing," says the survey, "is the rise—and the admission of that rise—in what would surely have been considered highly serious moral infractions only a short time ago." The number of people who say that they know someone who commits adultery has risen from 24% to 36% since 1964; 15% now—v. 10% then—virtually admit to instances of adultery in their own family. In other areas, 13% know someone whose child uses marijuana, 59% know someone who drinks too much, 22% know someone who gambles too much, and 11%—or one out of every nine Americans—know someone who is a homosexual. In each instance, that "someone" is frequently a member of the respondent's own family; of the 55% who said that they knew someone with marital troubles, more than half also replied that the party involved was "close to me."

When it comes to judging themselves rather than others, substantial minorities of Americans admit to committing either illegal or immoral acts, many of which they tend to take for granted. For instance, 30% nationwide admit to having cheated on an examination; 19% admit to having taken advantage of a cashier's error (32% of the young); 16% say that they have taken an employer's supplies or equipment without his permission; 13% have ignored parking tickets (20% of the college-educated); 12% have walked out of a store with something they didn't pay for (23% of the young); and 10% have failed to return borrowed library books (18% of the young).

One striking finding is that most Americans regard the violation of traditional morality as a lesser wrong than the attempt to disguise such violation with hypocrisy. The survey confirmed this indictment by posing situations in which respondents had to pass comparative judgment on various types of miscreants, "respectable" and otherwise. Common criminals, militants and the sexually promiscuous almost always came out better across the entire Harris sample than the prototypical Establishment figure who violates a trust. Examples:

> A politician who takes bribes is worse than an adulterer (54% to 32%).

> A manufacturer of unsafe automobiles is worse than a mugger (68% to 22%).

> A policeman who takes money from a prostitute is worse than the prostitute (81% to 8%).

> A white grocer who sells bad meat to a Negro customer is worse than a Negro rioter (63% to 22%).

> A psychiatrist who improperly commits an old person to a mental hospital is worse than a draft dodger who fakes a physical defect (65% to 20%).

> A prosecutor who railroads an innocent man is worse than an armed robber (78% to 10%).

> A doctor who refuses a house call to someone who is seriously ill is worse than a homosexual (71% to 18%).

> A businessman who illegally fixes prices is worse than a burglar (54% to 28%).

> A landlord who will not repair a firetrap is worse than a campus demonstrator (65% to 23%).

> A rich man who uses loopholes to pay little or no income tax is worse than a welfare chiseler (60% to 22%).