In U.S., More Say Animals Should Have Same Rights As People
Support for animal rights is on the rise in the U.S. according to 2015 polling by Gallup. The latest numbers reveal that almost a full third of Americans (32%) believe “animals should be given the same rights as people.” This is up significantly from polling carried out in 2003; back then, only 25% of Americans believed that animals deserved this kind of consideration, and that number remained steady when polling was conducted on the same question in 2008. The 2015 numbers represent a new and encouraging uptick for animal advocates.
Digging into the numbers a bit further, the study notes that “the percentage of Americans who support the idea that animals’ rights should be equal to those of humans increased across all major U.S. demographic groups,” and that while “women remain more likely to support this view than men do, support among both groups has increased by a similar amount since 2008.” In a similar trend pattern, “Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are more supportive of this view than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are, but both groups have seen an increase from the last time Gallup asked them.” Age does not appear to be a factor, however.
The study goes on to explore the results more deeply, noting that current events and films are indicative of the changing mood towards animal rights. “Animal rights have been top of mind for Americans in recent years because of an increasing number of films and news stories depicting the poor treatment of animals.” The research found that animals used in entertainment and research topped the list of concerns that people had, while fewer tended to be concerned with the treatment of household pets. Though the study notes that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what the recent trend can be attributed to, for animal advocates, the confluence of media coverage and growing concern is perhaps more encouraging than ever.