Editor's note: This article was originally published in The Surveyor, YouGov America's email newsletter. It has been revised for publication here. Subscribe to The Surveyor for regular updates on YouGov's polling.

Most American adults hold fairly open attitudes about premarital sex, and few see anything hypocritical or strange about young adults having dated casually in their 20s before later settling down, a new YouGov poll finds.

The poll was fielded soon after podcaster Alex Cooper announced her pregnancy with husband Matt Kaplan. This sparked some criticism of Cooper from conservatives who argued that there was a conflict between pro-casual sex messages on Cooper's podcast, Call Her Daddy, and her personal decision to have a marriage and child herself. Others defended Cooper as following a fairly normal life path.

YouGov's polling finds Cooper herself is not well-known: 68% of U.S. adult citizens have no opinion about her, while 19% have a very or somewhat favorable opinion of her and 14% have an unfavorable opinion.

But 65% of Americans say it's not hypocritical if someone famous who has publicly endorsed casual sex gets married and has children, while 15% say it is.

Conservatives and people who oppose premarital sex are more likely than others to say this is hypocritical, but even among these groups more say it's not hypocritical than say it is.

There's not much disagreement between liberals and conservatives about whether it's normal for a woman — or for a man — to spend their 20s dating casually and then get married and have children. Almost all liberals, moderates, and conservatives say this is either very normal or somewhat normal, for both men and for women. Liberals are more likely than conservatives to say this is very normal for both men and women, but even among conservatives, around half say this is very normal for each of men (51%) and women (50%).

Thinking something is normal is not necessarily the same thing as thinking something is good. But majorities of liberals and conservatives also say they strongly or somewhat approve of men and women dating casually in their 20s and then marrying and settling down.

Wedding time

YouGov asked Americans whether they think a range of ages generally are good ages for men and women to marry for the first time, or whether those ages are too young or too old for a first marriage. Cooper, 31, married Kaplan at age 29, in the middle of a range that almost all Americans say is a good age for women to get married. 85% of Americans say 28 is a good age for a woman to get married for the first time, the highest saying this for any of the ages YouGov asked about. 84% say 30 is a good age to get married, and 80% say 32 is. At least three-quarters of Americans say 25 (78%) and 35 (75%) are good ages for women to get married.

44% of Americans say 21 years old is too young for a woman to get married for the first time, while 49% say it's a good age. Most say 18 and 16 are each too young (77% and 91%, respectively).

Majorities of Americans say 40 and 45 are both good ages for a woman to get married for the first time (61% and 55%). Only 36% say 60 is a good age for a woman's first marriage, while 46% say this is too old.

YouGov asked this same question about good ages for men to get married. Like with women, Americans are most likely to say the late 20s and early 30s are a good age for men to get married for the first time. But Americans' views on ideal male marriage ages skew slightly older than their views on when women should get married. For example, while 44% of Americans say 21 is too young for a woman to get married, 55% say 21 is too young for a man to get married.

For every age under 30 asked about, more Americans say that age is a good age for women to marry for the first time than say so about men. For every age over 30, more say it's a good age for men to marry than say so about women. The same share — 84% each — say age 30 is a good age for men and for women to get married for the first time.

For both men and for women, conservatives are more likely than liberals to say each age under 30 is a good age to first get married, and liberals are more likely to say ages over 30 are good marriage ages.

Sex, and when to have it

Overall, 81% of U.S. adult citizens say they've had sex, while 11% say they haven't and 8% prefer not to say.

Almost all of the 38% of Americans who are currently married say they've had sex before — 95%, while 4% prefer not to say.

Among Americans who aren't currently married, 73% say they've had sex, 18% say they haven't, and 10% prefer not to say.

Unmarried women are slightly more likely than unmarried men to say they've had sex (76% vs. 68%).

Among unmarried American adults, younger ones are much less likely than older ones to have had sex: 43% of unmarried adults under 30 say they've had sex, compared to 70% of 30- to 44-year-olds, 88% of 45- to 64-year-olds, and 97% of those 65 and older.

Most unmarried people in relationships say they've had sex (88% say yes and 3% say no), while unmarried people not currently in relationships are less likely to have had sex (67% vs. 23%).

Asked to choose between two views, Americans are twice as likely to say that people don't need to wait until marriage to have sex than to say that people should wait (58% vs. 28%). Men and women are about equally likely to be fine with premarital sex (58% and 59%).

People who say they have had sex before are more likely than those who say they haven't to say premarital sex is okay (63% vs. 51%).

Almost all Americans who say they're very liberal are fine with sex before marriage (85%), as are 73% of those who are liberal but not very liberal, and 60% of those who are moderate. People who are conservative but not very conservative are closely divided: 46% say they align more with the view that people should wait until marriage before having sex, and 43% say they don't need to. Among the very conservative, 64% endorse waiting until marriage and 30% say it's not needed.

The more important that Americans say religion is to them, the more likely they are to endorse waiting until marriage, a view that is closer to the opinion of 54% of those who say religion is very important to them, 25% of those who say it's somewhat important, 11% of those who say it's not too important, and 3% of those who say it's not at all important.

See the results of this poll

Methodology: The May 22 - 25, 2026 poll was conducted among 1,107 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.

Image: Getty (Antony Jones / Stringer)

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