Most Americans, Europeans Oppose Cancel Culture, Poll Reveals

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The majority of people in the US, Germany, the UK, and France oppose so-called cancel culture, according to a French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) poll for Sputnik.

Fifty percent of respondents in the United States are against cancel culture, a phenomenon or practice of publicly rejecting, boycotting, or ending support for particular people or groups as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure, the IFOP poll has revealed. In the UK, the number of people objecting to the modern form of ostracism stood at 49 percent, while in Germany it's 59 percent.

Only 33 percent of Americans, 27 percent of British, and 29 percent of Germans had a positive opinion of cancel culture. The situation differs in France, where the number of opponents was significantly lower at 38 percent, while the number of those undecided stood at 29 percent. Still, only 33 percent of French residents supported cancel culture.

The poll has also revealed that Germany, France, and the UK are more open than the US to the idea of introducing sexual orientation and gender change education into school curricula, though Americans are more supportive of the right of minors to undergo medical treatment that delays puberty.

Respondents in the four countries were asked if they support or oppose a September decision by a UK Court of Appeal to allow teenagers under 16 to give informed consent to a medical treatment delaying puberty, necessary for gender change. The US came on out on top with more than a third of respondents (36 percent) being in favour, followed by Germany with 34 percent.

At the same time, about half of those surveyed in all four countries were against the decision, with 52 percent in France and the UK, and 48 percent in the US and Germany.

The respondents were also asked if they would support or oppose the idea of including information on same-sex relationships in school curricula.

With the exception of the US, the number of supporters of the idea was higher than the number of its opponents — 64 percent voted in favour in Germany, while 27 percent were against it; 52 percent approved of the idea in the UK versus 33 percent who objected to it; 42 percent in the US backed the proposal, while 43 percent disapproved of the idea.

Germany also turned out to be the most open to the suggestion of including gender change studies in schools, with 53 percent favouring the idea as opposed to only 37 percent against. In France, opinions were divided with 41 percent voting "for" and 42 percent "against". In the UK and the US, the "against" option was chosen by a majority of respondents – 44 percent versus 39 percent in the UK, and 48 percent versus 40 percent in the US.

These ideas have been mainly promoted by the green and liberal parties, and opposed by the conservatives, the poll found.

The survey, which included 4,010 people aged 18 and over, was conducted online in the form of a questionnaire from 24-26 November in Germany, France, the UK, and the US. The questionnaire was prepared following a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai International Discussion Club, in which he criticised cancel culture and the Western practice of teaching gender change to children, calling it "terrible" when minors are pushed to make choices that could negatively affect the rest of their lives.