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U.S. Declines in Free Speech Support

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free speech support

Reason Magazine

•

US Politics

Survey: Free Speech Support Is Eroding in America

Summary

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79% Informative

Survey: U.S. has experienced third -largest decline in support for free speech since 2021 .

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris voters show identical support for government criticism and similar tolerance for flag insults.

Young Americans show significantly less tolerance for controversial speech than their elders across every category we measured.

Young adults show the steepest declines in free speech support among younger Americans .

American history provides instructive examples of how surges of intolerance can be reversed by appealing to the underlying principles of the First Amendment .

The Sedition Act of 1798 , pushed by the Federalist Party and President John Adams , criminalized criticism of the government.

Restoring America's commitment to free speech requires intellectual humility and a willingness to course-correct across ideological divides.

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Informative language

Neutral language

Article tone

formal

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English

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Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

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not detected

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not detected

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short-lived

External references

https://futurefreespeech.org/who-supports-free-speech-findings-from-a-global-survey/https://www.salon.com/2024/10/08/feedback-effects-the-real-censorship-caused-by-fake-cancel-culture-outrage/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvscxtj0 https://reason.com https://reason.com/2025/03/19/trump-is-explicitly-targeting-legal-residents-based-on-the-opinions-they-express/https://www.techpolicy.press/breaking-free-from-the-first-amendment-a-conversation-with-mary-anne-franks/https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/frederick-douglass-a-plea-for-free-speech-in-boston-1860 https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/zechariah-chafee-jr-freedom-of-speech-the-new-republic-november-16-1918#:~:text=A%20professor%20at%20Harvard%20Law,publication%2C%20and%20expression%2C%20even%20in https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-to-fight-misinformation-without https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/opinion/free-speech-trump-maga.html https://reason.com/2025/04/03/survey-free-speech-support-is-eroding-in-america/https://reason.com/2025/03/31/defending-student-deportations-marco-rubio-equates-writing-an-anti-israel-op-ed-piece-with-starting-a-riot/https://reason.com/2025/04/01/trumps-war-on-the-press/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/third-annual-message-19 https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/alien-and-sedition-acts https://news.gallup.com/poll/654905/americans-everyday-products-without-realizing.aspx https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/18/vance-speech-munich-full-text-read-transcript-europe/https://futurefreespeech.org/the-free-speech-recession-hits-home/https://firstamendmentwatch.org/history-speaks-holmes-dissenting-abrams-v-united-states-1919/https://futurefreespeech.org/united-states-global-survey-2025/https://reason.com/2025/03/28/marco-rubio-says-hes-revoked-300-student-visas-over-campus-activism/https://futurefreespeech.org/volokh-conspiracy-book-review-fearless-speech-doesnt-take-first-amendment-history-seriously/https://time.com/7258238/social-media-tang-siddarth-weyl/https://nypost.com/2025/01/21/opinion/let-the-people-find-the-truth-as-bidens-censorship-wall-falls-a-welcome-return-to-open-society/

Source diversity

futurefreespeech.org www.salon.com www.jstor.org reason.com www.techpolicy.press constitutioncenter.org www.persuasion.community www.nytimes.com www.presidency.ucsb.edu www.archives.gov news.gallup.com foreignpolicy.com firstamendmentwatch.org time.com nypost.com

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