One morality divides the left and right; the other barely registers

Weighted share in eleven Western democracies who “tend to justify” each act (a rating of 6 or higher on the 1–10 scale), by ideological self-placement. Left = 1–4, Right = 7–10; centre (5–6) excluded. Most recent survey per country.

Left (1–4) Right (7–10) the partisan gap

Takeaway: every autonomy item (top group) shows a wide blue–red gap, with the left more permissive; every dishonesty item (bottom group) is a near-collapsed dot — the two sides answer almost identically, and where they differ the right is faintly more permissive.

Personal-autonomy items show a mean left–right gap of roughly twelve to twenty points; the three dishonesty items differ by 2.9 points on average, the smallest being fare evasion at under one point. Sex before marriage is fielded in 9 of the eleven countries; all other items in 11. Source: World Values Survey + EVS pooled, weighted, each country given equal weight; per-cell effective N ≥ 100.

A durable gap on the body, no gap at all on honesty

Left-minus-right difference in the share who “tend to justify” each act, by survey year, pooled across Western democracies. Positive = the left is more permissive.

Homosexuality Abortion Cheating on taxes Accepting a bribe

Takeaway: the two autonomy lines (warm) ride well above the zero axis for the whole period — a wide, persistent gap that does not widen; the two dishonesty lines (grey) sit on the axis throughout, a partisan non-event.

The homosexuality gap moves between +0.177 and +0.223 across seven waves with no trend; the dishonesty gaps average near zero (the recent tax gap is −0.047). Western democracies, weighted, each country equal weight. Per-wave N = 3,693–11,659 respondents; country coverage varies by wave (6–11 countries). Source: WVS + EVS pooled.

The West climbed the autonomy axis; much of the world did not move

Mean justifiability of homosexuality (1 = never, 10 = always) by World Bank region, by decade. Each country given equal weight within its region.

North America Europe & Central Asia Latin America East Asia & Pacific Sub-Saharan Africa South Asia Middle East & N. Africa

Takeaway: North America rockets from the bottom of the scale to near the top; Europe and Latin America rise steadily; East Asia drifts up; and South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East stay pinned near 2 on a 10-point scale for the whole period.

North America rises from 2.72 (1980s) to 7.68 (2020s); the Middle East & North Africa stays near 1.8 across all decades available to it. Regional means give each country equal weight; decade points with thin coverage carry wider uncertainty. Per-cell N = 1,476–87,603; MENA enters only from the 2000s. Source: WVS + EVS pooled, weighted.