A new poll finds that freedom of speech is a crucial issue for most American citizens, along with health care, crime, and immigration.
Despite bipartisan agreement on its importance, there is a disagreement on who will safeguard our First Amendment rights — a question the presidential election’s outcome will soon answer.
A new poll from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, discovered that the majority of Americans rate free speech as very important to their vote in 2024, only second to inflation.
When questioned about a host of issues in the context of the election, 1,022 Americans were most concerned about inflation — 68% responded that increasing costs were “very important,” with 91% saying it is at least “somewhat important.”
Inflation was followed by free speech, with 63% saying it was “very important” and 90% saying it was at least “somewhat important.”
“Higher prices might be the top concern for Americans, but a very close second is the increasing cost of speaking your mind,” said Nathan Honeycutt, FIRE Research Fellow. “The message is clear: Americans want their free speech rights respected.”
Although at least 90% of both parties rate it “somewhat important,” 70% of GOP members polled were more likely to rate it “very important,” as opposed to 60% of Democrats.
Both parties expressed low confidence in the opposing party protecting free speech
The reports said Republicans and Democrats both expressed very low confidence that the opposing party will respect their free speech, and Independents don’t trust either party to do so.
It additionally states that Republicans were more likely to respond that they were somewhat concerned about their ability not to speak as freely today as four years ago.
“Republicans trust Republicans to protect their speech, and Democrats trust Democrats,” said Chief Research Advisor of FIRE Sean Stevens. “But the true test of commitment to free speech is whether politicians protect dissenting speech. No matter who’s in charge, FIRE will be there to keep them honest.”
The organization’s Senior Program Officer, Marcus Maldonado, told The Center Square that it was pleased to partner with First Amendment Watch at NYU and the National Constitution Center to bring the First Amendment Summit back to Philadelphia for the second straight year.
“Featuring a keynote conversation about global free speech with Jason Rezaian of The Washington Post and panel discussions about free speech online and on campus, the National First Amendment Summit presented the public with a vigorous discussion of the state of free speech in America and around the globe,” said Maldonado.
Another panelist and author of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, Jonathan Turley, said that since the beginning of the republic, each generation has believed they have some existential threat that permits them to silence their neighbors.
Turley added that social media and technology have created new free speech challenges, was critical of how Facebook and Twitter have restricted free speech and doesn’t believe in trade-offs made to prevent “disinformation.”
Although the technology is new, he said, “it takes a lot to get a free people to give up freedom. Since the beginning, fear and anger have caused rage rhetoric, which becomes an excuse for every government to crack down. And the question is whether each generation is willing to give up that part of their freedom.”
“This is the most dangerous anti-free speech period in our history because we’ve never seen an alliance with the government, media, academia, and corporations like this one,” asserted Turley.
