Sanford said he is resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
A Gallup survey conducted in May found that Americans find extramarital affairs more distasteful than social controversies like suicide, cloning, abortion or medical testing on animals.
Approximately 92% of Americans said married men or women having an affair is morally wrong and the second worse taboo is polygamous relationships, agreed upon by 91% of Americans surveyed. Divorce and the death penalty were the two most accepted taboos with 62% of Americans saying that they are morally acceptable.
Even with an overwhelming majority of Americans showing disgust over cheating husbands and wives, many public figures caught having an affair have been able to move past the bad publicity and continue with their success. Every year there is at least one cheating husband or wife splattered accross every headline in the country and the same 92% of Americans who find it morally wrong are able to forgive them and move on.
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Politicians are always under the spotlight when it comes to extramarital affairs. From John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, to Eliot Spitzer and Ashley Dupre, politicians have taken up a fair share of the 'extramarital affairs' section of the newspaper. But even with so many Americans hating on cheaters, it doesn't seem to affect their voting habits too considerably. A Gallup Poll in 2007 showed that 54% of Americans would have a problem with a presidential candidate who had an affair compared to 46% who said it wouldn't bother them at all.
Who knows which political party actually has more cheaters, but Gallup found out which political party members find extramarital affairs more acceptable. Republicans have the largest percentage of members finding extramarital affairs morally wrong with 97%, compared to 94% of Independents and 89% of Democrats. Men and women differ slightly on their perceptions with 8% of men find cheating acceptable and only 3% of women do. And there isn't much difference between the 18-to-29 age group and the over-30 age group.
One thing for sure. Almost every group of Americans find that having an extramarital affair, especially when you're in the public spotlight, is the worse thing you can do. But that doesn't mean you won't be forgiven.