A recent survey from Gallup has found exceedingly high levels of support in US adults for the practice of euthanasia. The majority of respondents to the survey showed more support for euthanasia than physician-assisted suicide, but both were supported by more than half, and furthermore, a slim majority also deemed such measures to be morally sound, suggesting the pro-life movement has a lot of work to do to change opinions.
Gallup first began gauging the opinions of US adults on the topic of euthanasia back in 1996, when about 68% supported allowing doctors to end a patient’s life at the patient’s request, while about 52% supported allowing physicians to assist patients in ending their own lives. Now, the 2024 figures place support for the former slightly higher, at 71%, and the latter much higher at 66%.
Even when broken down by subcategories, support for euthanasia seems to remain high all around. The groups with the most support for end-of-life interventions were Democrats and women; around 8 in 10 (79%) of both these groups indicated support. Independents were only slightly less likely to support euthanasia (72%), but even the majority of Republicans were found to support euthanasia at a rate of 61%.
Moral?
When the question of the morality of euthanasia came up, more than half (53%) of all respondents said they believed it was moral to help someone end their own life on request, while only 40% said they thought it was morally wrong. Gallup found that since 2014, a full decade, more than 50% of US adults have considered euthanasia to be morally acceptable, while prior to 2013 more than half the country felt it was wrong.
The religiosity of respondents was deemed to be an influential factor in opinions on the morality of physician-assisted suicide. Those who “seldom or never” attend religious services were far more likely (67%) to call euthanasia morally acceptable, while those who attend religious services weekly were far more likely to consider it morally wrong (66%).
When broken down by religion, Catholics were the least likely (44%) to suggest euthanasia was morally acceptable, followed by Protestants at 46%. Those with no religious affiliation cited their support for euthanasia at a rate of 70%.
