One In Two? Not True: A pollster disputes divorce rates

For years the state of the marriage union in the U.S. has been widely proclaimed as dismal. Citing high divorce rates, preachers and social commentators have bemoaned the institution as virtually doomed unless American couples mend their fickle ways. To support their cries of alarm, they have often cited a commonly accepted statistic: one out of every two marriages ends in divorce.

Not so, insists Pollster Louis Harris. After studying the divorce rates and surveying some 3,000 married people, as well as unmarried couples, Harris issued two reassuring findings last week: only one in eight marriages ends in divorce, and fully...