(The Center Square) – Free speech suppression on college campuses and social media censorship often spur debates over how far the First Amendment should go to protect Americans’ rights to express their opinions – and who should be entrusted with those decisions.
About 53% of Americans believe the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it protects, according to a new poll by the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE.
The poll, conducted July 5-10, is the latest installment in the National Speech Index, a quarterly survey designed by FIRE and the Polarization Research Lab at Dartmouth College to gauge public opinion on freedom of speech.
The 10-question survey consists of five permanent questions to track support for free speech and the First Amendment over time and five rotating questions to capture public opinion about topical and newsworthy speech-related issues.
“Evidently, one out of every two Americans wishes they had fewer civil liberties,” said FIRE’s Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens. “Many of them reject the right to assemble, to have a free press, and to petition the government. This is a dictator’s fantasy.”
Additionally, the report states that 69% of those surveyed believe the country is on the wrong track regarding free speech. Only 5% believe their rights are “completely” secure, and 12% “not at all” secure.
Approximately 65% of respondents have some level of trust in the government to fairly decide on what speech is considered threatening or indecent. However, only 32% said they were “not at all” comfortable with the government limiting the free speech of pro-Hamas protesters.
“Not only do many Americans want to take a machete to the First Amendment, but it’s unclear whether they understand its bounds,” said FIRE’s press release. It also states that a plurality of respondents said this spring’s campus pro-Palestinian protests should have been allowed to continue on free speech grounds.
The organization noted that while many protests were “lawful,” some included “tent encampments, vandalism, and the occupation of buildings” – which are not justifiably protectable “in the name of free speech.”
“Americans have little tolerance for certain forms of protected speech and a lot of tolerance for unprotected conduct, when it should be the other way around,” Stevens said. “This poll reveals that the state of free speech in America is dire.”
Pointing to previous surveys, Stevens told The Center Square that many Americans have little to no trust in the government to regulate free speech, but at the same time, other data suggest many are ready to censor views they don’t like.
They want someone to do it, but don’t trust the government or social media companies to do it fairly, he said.
Stevens highlighted one encouraging result: there seems to be rare bipartisan agreement between Democrats and Republicans — 61% and 52%, respectively — that they are not comfortable with the government regulating the speech of pro-Hamas protesters.
“I know what’s being said probably offends a lot of people,” he said. “But that’s a strong free speech stance there.”
However, half of Democrats and only one-fifth of Republicans think America is on the right track when it comes to free speech in general.
Other survey work focused on the encampment protests and how campus administrations addressed them. Stevens said the results show increased concern over the state of free speech among liberals, progressives and people on the left compared to six months ago.
“There is more awareness now that their ox is being gored and they see how the calls for censorship can be wielded against them just as easily,” he said.
Other findings show the percentage of respondents who are “very” or “somewhat worried about being fired over complaints about their speech fell from 28% in April to 20% in July. They note that the survey was conducted prior to the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
The number of people who self-censor “fairly” or “very” often also decreased to 23% from 27%.
