More than two thirds (69%) of Americans believe their country is heading in the wrong direction on the issue of free speech with a significant portion supporting the censorship of views they find offensive.
A survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), found fewer than half (47%) of respondents believed their ‘right to freedom’ was secure. The Christian Post reports nearly a third (29%) of them claimed that ‘right’ wasn’t secure at all.
Sean Westwood the director of the Polarization Research Lab which partnered in the survey noted that views on free speech differed slightly based on partisan affiliation. “Nearly half of Democrats think free speech rights are headed in the right direction, compared to only 26% of Republicans, More than a third of Republicans think their right to free speech is not secure, whereas only 17% of Democrats believed that,” he stated.
The research indicated that nearly a third (31%) of Americans believe that the First Amendment to the US Constitution guaranteeing the right to free speech “goes too far.” This view is held by about a third of both Democrats and Republicans.
Only 10% feared losing their jobs over their views. That compared to 60% who said they had worries about the security of their jobs.
When it came to self-censorship, 31% of respondents told the pollsters that they had censored their views “occasionally, a handful of times.” Almost the same percentage agreed that a person who had views they considered “the most offensive” should definitely not have the ability to “give a public speech” in the local community. Significantly more (38%) believed they should be banned from teaching “at the local college.”
“Those results were disappointing, but not exactly surprising,” FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said: “We’ve long observed that many people who say they’re concerned about free speech, waver when it comes to beliefs they personally find offensive. But the best way to protect your speech in the future is to defend the right to controversial and offensive speech today.”
A majority (59%) of respondents thought the public library should either “probably” or “definitely” keep a book written by a person with an offensive viewpoint on the shelves. In comparison, 71% agreed that the person should “probably” or “definitely” not lose their job for holding that view. position.
The poll is the first installment of the National Speech Index, a component of a new quarterly series titled America’s Political Pulse that seeks to “allow researchers to track shifting free speech sentiment in America over time.”
