The Future of the First Amendment: High School Students

Washington, DC, October 13, 2026 – Please visit http://kf.org for the full report.

The latest Knight Foundation-Ipsos Future of the First Amendment study, which builds on more than two decades of research examining high school students’ attitudes toward free speech, finds that students continue to place a high value on freedom of expression. Nearly all students believe that protecting free speech is important to democracy, and most believe students should be able to express their opinions in school without fear of punishment from teachers or administrators. 

The 2026 survey also provides a detailed look at students’ views on freedom of expression and the climate for speech in the country, their schools and their daily lives. These findings reflect a long-standing pattern in the Knight Foundation-Ipsos research. Since the study began in 2004, high school students have consistently expressed strong support for freedom of speech and its role in a democratic society. Equally important, they also believe in the right to freedom of expression in their schools.

Yet this new research finds hesitancy among students about the extent to which they are able to exercise their right to free speech. Reflecting this hesitancy, a majority of students say that holding back opinions often or sometimes makes it harder for students at their school to have valuable discussions during class. Students are more likely to self-censor because of potential reactions from peers, such as conflict, hurt feelings or social exclusion, than because they worry about getting in trouble with authority figures.

The survey comes as artificial intelligence (AI) is already beginning to reshape American education, the climate for speech in this country and the volume of information that is accessible. High school students hold conflicting views on AI. Although most students support allowing AI chatbots to discuss any topic, including offensive ones, they also believe AI should impose limits on dangerous content.

To read about The Future of the First Amendment study among young adults, click here.

Methodology

This is the ninth in a series of surveys of high school students and teachers sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Prior surveys were conducted in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022. 

For past iterations of this research series, the overall design featured a multistage cluster sampling methodology. Employing this technique produced a scientific and thus generalizable survey of students and teachers in public and private high schools in the United States. This technique involved drawing a representative national sample of 50 high schools in the United States. For each school, a phone call was placed to the principal, asking if the school would be willing to participate in the project. The principals coordinated the administration of surveys to all students and teachers in their schools.

For the 2026 iteration, a methodological shift was made to now conduct the study as a nationally representative online survey. The data was collected May 6-20, 2026, by Ipsos using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a representative sample of 1,167 current high school students, ages 13-18. The parents of the students gave their consent for their child to take the survey, which was self-administered by the student. Some differences from earlier findings may reflect methodological changes as well as real shifts in student attitudes.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data for the total sample of adults ages 18-29 were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, census region, metropolitan status, household income, and language. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 American Community Survey (ACS). The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (13-14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
• Race-Ethnicity (White/Non-Hispanic, Black/Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan Status (Metro, Non-Metro)
• Grade level (Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of high school students. The margin of error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.47. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.  

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