Americans who think that combating hunger and child abuse are important moral issues far outnumber those concerned about same sex marriage or abortion.

A poll by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University of 1,001 adult U.S. residents found considerable disagreement over which issues Americans would list as important moral concerns. The study found that "moral values" -- the top concern cited by voters in exit polls during the Nov. 2 presidential election -- is a highly diverse concept that means a great many different things to Americans.

The survey asked people to rate 13 issues as "a very important, somewhat important or not important moral issue."

Those issues that seemed to threaten harm or cause suffering easily surpassed all other concerns mentioned, even those issues commonly cited as critical problems during last year's elections. For example, 89 percent said child abuse is a very important moral issue, while 77 percent ranked spousal abuse, and 71 percent endorsed the general topic of hunger.

The least-often cited concerns were gambling, which just 18 percent said was a very important moral issue; homosexuality, which 31 percent cited; and same-sex marriage, identified as very important by 38 percent.

The survey was conducted by phone from Jan. 30 through Feb. 10 at the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University. It has a margin of error of about plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Attitudes varied among demographic groups.

One of the most consistent dividing lines was political-party identification. About the only issues upon which Democrats and Republicans agree are the convictions that gambling is not an especially pressing moral issue, while child abuse overwhelmingly represents a pressing concern.

Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to believe that abortion, divorce and pornography are a very important moral issues. Democrats, by equally wide margins, were more likely than Republicans to think that hunger and greed in America are top moral issues.

Republicans and Democrats were most fiercely divided over the related issues of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Just 19 percent of Democrats thought homosexuality was a very important issue, compared with 48 percent of Republicans. And just 30 percent of Democrats said same-sex marriage is a top concern, compared with 60 percent of Republicans.