Pornography's approval rating is at an all-time high. Is Stormy Daniels responsible?

(Image credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

published 5 June 2018

Pornography is more acceptable than ever among Americans, and Gallup thinks Stormy Daniels could be a cause.

The polling service asked 1,024 adults if they thought porn was morally acceptable, and 43 percent said it was. That's seven points higher than last year's result, and the highest portion since Gallup started asking the question in 2011.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Every year, Gallup has seen increased acceptance toward issues of sexuality and sex, so this result fits the trend. But the firm can't fully explain this specific spike. Perhaps it's an outlier — or perhaps it's because Daniels, the adult film star who received hush money from President Trump to cover an alleged affair, "has given pornography a sense of moral credibility that it previously lacked," Gallup wrote.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox