The kiss cam images of cheating executives at a Coldplay concert dominated news headlines and social media feeds this week. Yet, should Americans really be surprised by this story?
Here are the facts:
In one poll, Americans led the world in infidelity rates. Unsurprisingly, 31 percent of affairs involved a coworker.
Pew Research found that Americans are more likely to say that career enjoyment is more important to life fulfillment than marriage.
While a 2022 Gallup survey found 9 in 10 Americans believe marital cheating is always morally wrong, a study by the Survey Center on American Life shows that beliefs on marital infidelity actually differ based on political ideology and gender.
For example, the study found that 70 percent of women believe it is “always” morally wrong when a man has an extramarital affair, but only 56 percent say the same is true when it is a woman who has the affair.
In addition, 71 percent of conservative women indicate that it is always wrong for a woman to cheat, but only about half that number (36 percent) of liberal women say it’s always wrong for a woman to engage in an extramarital affair.
The images of the now infamous corporate couple are simply a glimpse into our culture. You might ask then, “why the viral reaction if the behavior is so common place?” It’s not always the action that gets you caught, it’s the coverup.