First National Speech Index shows a mixed bag for free speech

Today, FIRE released the first set of data from our new National Speech Index, a quarterly survey that measures support for the First Amendment and tracks how Americans think about the state of free speech in the country over time. 

The survey sampled 1,000 American adults and was conducted from Jan. 12-19 as a part of the Polarization Research Lab’s weekly America’s Political Pulse survey. What the  survey reveals about the current state of free speech in America is alarming: There is startling bipartisan “agreement” among a notable portion of Democrats and Republicans that “[t]he First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees” and that people who have previously expressed offensive ideas should be censored and even fired from their jobs.

Americans’ views on freedom of speech

Only about a third of Americans (31%) think things are heading in the right direction when it comes to whether people are able to freely express their views in the United States. Blacks (50%), Hispanics (37%), and Democrats (46%) were the most likely to be optimistic about the direction of free speech, while Republicans (26%), Independents (23%), and Asians (12%) were the least likely. 

Similar partisan and racial/ethnic differences were evident for perceptions of how secure the First Amendment is today. About a third of Americans (29%) say that the right to freedom of speech is “not at all secure,” with Republicans (37%), Independents (32%), and Asians (32%) being the most likely to agree, and Democrats (17%), Blacks (20%), and Hispanics (24%) being the least likely. 

When asked whether the “First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees,” however, there was a surprising level of partisan agreement — around a third of Democrats (32%) and Republicans (35%) say that this “mostly” or “completely” describes their thoughts. 

Americans’ tolerance for offensive speakers

The bipartisan “agreement” on whether the First Amendment goes too far is also evident in Americans’ tolerance of people who express ideas they consider offensive. Democrats and Republicans do not differ much, if at all, in their willingness to censor or otherwise sanction speakers they find offensive. What does differ is who they find offensive.  

POLL: 69% of Americans believe country on wrong track on free speech

Press Release

Only 1 in 4 Americans (25%) think the right to free speech today is either “very” or “completely” secure.

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• When asked to identify the most offensive idea from a list, Democrats most frequently identify “January 6th was a peaceful protest” (21%), “Abortion should be completely illegal” (16%), and “America got what it deserved on 9/11” (15%), as the most offensive.
• Republicans, on the other hand, most frequently identify “All whites are racist oppressors” (25%) and “Black Lives Matter is a hate group” (11%) as the most offensive.
• Democrats and Republicans also both identify “America got what it deserved on 9/11” as one of the more offensive statements (15% and 22%, respectively).
• Overall, about 1 in 5 Americans (19%) picked “All whites are racist oppressors,” followed by “America got what it deserved on 9/11” (18%) and “January 6th was a peaceful protest” (12%), as the most offensive idea.

After identifying the most offensive idea, respondents were then asked about their tolerance for someone who expressed that view. 

• More than two-thirds of Americans (69%) either “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose allowing a person who has said something they consider offensive to teach at the local college, and about half (52%) say they “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose allowing this person to give a public speech in their local community. 
• Around two-fifths (41%) say that they “somewhat” or “strongly” support removing this person’s book from the public library, and almost a third (29%) say that they “somewhat” or “strongly” support this person getting fired from their job.

Broken down by political party:

• Almost three-fourths of Democrats (71%) and Republicans (73%) either “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose allowing a person who has said something they consider offensive to teach at the local college.
• An equal number of Democrats and Republicans (45%) say that they “somewhat” or “strongly” support removing this person’s book from the public library, and a little less than a third of Democrats (30%) and Republicans (27%) say that they “somewhat” or “strongly” support this person getting fired from their job.
• Democrats were slightly less willing to allow this person to give a speech in their local community than Republicans. Almost three-fifths of Democrats (58%) say they “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose allowing this person to give a public speech in their local community, whereas 52% of Republicans said the same.

While Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much, these findings reveal that some find common ground on their support for censorship: Since the targets of their censorship differ, this is cause for concern for people on both sides of the aisle who would like to speak their minds.  

Concerns about cancel culture

In this context, it’s unsurprising that the data shows many Americans are afraid to speak their minds, with about a quarter of respondents expressing strong concerns about cancel culture. One in four Americans say that they are “very” or “somewhat” worried about losing their job because of someone complaining about something they said. 

Asians are particularly concerned about this, with about a third (32%) saying they are “very” or “somewhat” worried about losing their job. Democrats and Republicans are equally concerned about losing their job over something they said, with 23% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans saying they are “very” or “somewhat” worried.

Roughly the same number of Americans (25%) say that over the past month they have self-censored “fairly” or “very” often — meaning they’ve done so at least a couple times a week. Racial and ethnic differences in responses are negligible. A slightly larger percentage of Republicans (28%) than Democrats (22%) say that over the past month they have self-censored “fairly” or “very” often.

This initial poll says a lot about the state of free speech in the United States, much of it not good. FIRE looks forward to seeing more results next quarter.

The National Speech Index is a new quarterly component of America’s Political Pulse, which will allow researchers to track shifting free speech sentiment in America over time. All data and results presented are weighted to nationally representative demographic targets with a margin of error +/-3%. The next set of results will be released in May. The raw data file containing the January 2024 survey results is available here.