How Popular Is Polygamy Nowadays?

Overwhelming majority feel polygamy should stay in the past once and forever. That was revealed in a poll, where Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) asked people to respond to the question: “Do you want to practice polygamy?”

The poll, conducted between 3/17/14 and 11/17/14, yielded the following results: 32% of respondents support polygamy and 68% oppose the idea of living with multiple partners.

Although society doesn't support polygamy, it is still present in modern world. Jan Brown, the author of the article "I grew up in a polygamist family", shares a truthful story of a polygamy world. This article highlights the author's experience in one of a polygamist families. “I was one of 13 children raised by our father and three mothers in a polygamist community in Utah. Even though I knew which woman was my biological mother, we were encouraged to treat all the wives the same. Outwardly, our family seemed content, but beneath the surface lay jealousy and pain. We never acknowledged these feelings because we were supposed to sacrifice our emotions. Even laughter was discouraged.”

Participants numbered 174,425 representing the following countries: the USA – 69%, Canada – 3%, Britain – 7%, Australia – 4% and other countries – 17%. Surprisingly 61% of male participants are against polygamy, while the number of females responded “No” to the questions is 39%.

The poll revealed that 46% of females like the idea of polygamy, while scientists are sure that this type of relationships is not beneficial for women. Michael Wade, a biologist at Indiana University Bloomington, states "The more wives a woman's husband has, the fewer children she is going to have personally. That's interesting, and evolutionary biologists would say then that polygamy is good for males and maybe not so good for females."

According to Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, “The fact that majority of males are against polygamy calls into question the opinion that men are polygamous by nature.” Alex thinks that it’s wrong to call men naturally polygamous as it depends on one’s conviction. Moreover polygamy depends on economic conditions and in most cases has cultural and religious aspects.

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.