More than half of Americans believe the First Amendment can go too far in the rights it guarantees, according to a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment–focused nonprofit.
The survey, released on Thursday, asked 1,000 American adults a range of questions about the First Amendment, free speech, and the security of those rights. Fifty-three percent of respondents agreed with the statement “The First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees” to at least some degree, with 28 percent reporting that it “mostly” or “completely” describes their thoughts.
Americans were further divided along partisan lines. Over 60 percent of Democrats thought the First Amendment could go too far, compared to 52 percent of Republicans.
“Evidently, one out of every two Americans wishes they had fewer civil liberties,” Sean Stevens, FIRE’s chief research adviser, said on Thursday. “Many of them reject the right to assemble, to have a free press, and to petition the government. This is a dictator’s fantasy.”
Further, 1 in 5 respondents said they were “somewhat” or “very” worried about losing their job if someone complains about something they said. Eighty-three percent reported self-censoring in the past month, with 23 percent doing so “fairly” or “very” often.
Just 22 percent of respondents said they believed the right to free speech was “very” or “completely” secure. But despite these concerns, over a third said they trusted the government “somewhat,” “very much,” or “completely” to make fair decisions about what speech is deemed “intimidating,” “threatening,” “harassing,” and “indecent,” among other labels.
In all, almost 7 out of every 10 respondents agreed that America is going in the wrong direction when it comes to free speech—though it’s not clear whether respondents think our culture and government are becoming too tolerant, or not tolerant enough, of controversial speech.
This latest survey indicates that many Americans are concerned about the security of free speech rights, yet also eager to censor speech they personally find distasteful.
“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.”
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