The FINANCIAL -- Americans overwhelmingly rate their marriages as good or excellent. Those most recently wed are the most enthusiastic.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% of married adults regard their marriages as excellent, while another 29% categorize them as good. Just one percent (1%) say their married life is poor.
Those married five years or less are much more likely to view their marriages as excellent than those who have been married longer.
Men are more inclined than women to view their marriages as excellent. Women are more likely to say their marriages are good.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of all American Adults think marriage is at least somewhat important as an institution to U.S. society, with 56% who believe it is Very Important. Nineteen percent (19%) say marriage is not very or not at all important as an institution. It’s important to note that none of the questions defined marriage in any way.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of adults also feel that children are at least somewhat important in keeping a marriage together, including 47% who say they are a Very Important factor. Twenty-three percent (23%) think children are not important to a marriage’s longevity, but that includes only seven percent (7%) who say they are Not At All Important.
Married adults except for newlyweds believe slightly more strongly than unmarrieds that children are important to keeping a marriage going.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on May 22-23, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
Forty-five percent (45%) of adults believe it is too easy to get a divorce in America today, while eight percent (8%) say it’s too hard. Thirty-five percent (35%) think the level of difficulty is about right. Another 12% are not sure. These views are unchanged from a survey a year ago.
Married adults feel more than those who are not married that divorces are too easy to get. Those who have been married longer tend to believe more strongly that divorces are too easy to get.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of men say children are important in keeping a marriage together, but just 68% of women agree. There’s little difference of opinion between marrieds and unmarrieds on this question, but adults who have children in the home believe this more strongly than those without children living with them.
Eighty percent (80%) of all Americans believe it’s Very Important for children to grow up in a home with both their parents. Seventy-two percent (72%) agree that children who grow up in a home with both parents have an advantage over children whose parents are divorced.
Americans over the age of 40 view marriage as a social institution more importantly than those who are younger. Married adults rate it more importantly as an institution that those who are not married.
Republicans attach more important to marriage as a social institution than Democrats and adults not affiliated with either of the major parties.
In a January 2010 survey, 45% of married adults said most married couples argue on a fairly regular basis. Forty-three percent (43%) of married Americans favored a law that punishes individuals for verbal and psychological abuse of their spouses, but 36% were opposed.
Source: Rasmussen Reports
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