Views of state of moral values in U.S. at new low: Gallup

NEW YORK, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Americans' already poor ratings of the state of moral values in the United States have fallen further to the lowest point in Gallup's 22-year trend.

"The 54 percent of U.S. adults who rate moral values in the country as 'poor' marks a four-percentage-point increase since last year and the first time the reading has reached the majority level," said the rating company on Friday.

Another 33 percent of Americans think U.S. moral values are "only fair," 10 percent "good" and 1 percent "excellent," it noted.

"Throughout the trend, Americans have been more negative than positive in their views of the nation's moral values, but the latest readings, from a May 1-24 poll, are substantially worse than the trend averages," it said.

Since 2002, an average of 43 percent of U.S. adults have said the state of moral values is poor, while 38 percent have rated it as only fair and 18 percent as excellent or good, it added.