According to a recent survey, a narrow majority of Americans now believe that even moderate alcohol consumption has a negative impact on health, coinciding with a continued decline in US drinking levels.
A Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who report drinking alcohol has fallen to an all-time low since the survey was first conducted in 1939, a few years after the end of Prohibition in the United States.
The survey revealed that 54% of Americans reported drinking alcohol either occasionally or regularly in 2025, a decrease from the at least 60% recorded between 1997 and 2023. Those who do drink also reported consuming less, with the average number of drinks consumed in the last week being 2.8, which Gallup noted is “the lowest figure Gallup has recorded since 1996.”
The most significant change in the poll, which has been tracking attitudes toward alcohol since 2001, was the shift in public perception. The number of people who believe that moderate alcohol consumption—up to one or two drinks per day—is bad for personal health has risen to 53% in 2025, compared to just 27% in the early 2000s.
“Americans’ drinking habits are shifting amid the medical world’s reappraisal of alcohol’s health effects,” the pollster stated. This change follows a public health push to raise awareness about the risks of alcohol.
In January, then-US surgeon general Vivek Murthy called for alcohol to be sold with a cancer warning label. In a statement, he said, “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer, responsible for about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States.” He stressed the urgent need for public education, adding, “Yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk.”
