Americans value free speech, but differ on what is, or should be, protected by the First Amendment

Washington, DC, January 6, 2022 - Please visit http://kf.org/freespeechrights to read the full report. 

Free expression and the freedom of speech are cornerstones of American democracy. Yet the interpretation of the First Amendment continues to be a flashpoint in the 21st century as the nation debates how to apply these rights to our society.

For the 2021 “Free Expression in America Post-2020” report, Knight Foundation commissioned Ipsos to conduct a survey with a nationally representative sample of more than 4,000 American adults, including an additional sample of 1,000 undergraduate college students. The Knight Foundation-Ipsos study provides a comprehensive look at American attitudes toward freedom of speech in a post-2020 environment, building on Knight Foundation’s long-standing work studying free speech views among students since 2004.

This study finds that all Americans hold to the ideal of free speech, but putting free expression into practice reveals significant differences in experiences and attitude. It examines how Americans view free expression issues, events and the application of our First Amendment rights in an increasingly digital, diverse, and politically driven society.

About the Study

This Ipsos poll was conducted July 30- August 16, 2021, by Ipsos using the KnowledgePanel® on behalf of the Knight Foundation. This poll is based on a representative sample of 4,366 U.S. adults, age 18 or older with oversamples among Non-Hispanic Black/African Americans, Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islanders, Non-Hispanic Other/2 plus races, and Hispanics.

A supplemental sample of 942 additional current college students age 18-24 was collected at the same time; this resulted in a a total of 1,023 college students age 18-24 including 90 from the main sample of adults 18 and older. To collect additional completes among 18 to 24 year olds, an additional sample of 18 to 24 year old KnowledgePanel members were selected for this study. KnowledgePanelists were also asked if another member of their household was 18 to 24 years old and, where eligible, a second member of the household completed the survey.

The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data for the main adult sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, household income, Census region, metropolitan status, language proficiency, gender by age by race/ethnicity, education by race/ethnicity, and Census Region by race/ethnicity. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) from the US Census Bureau except for Metropolitan Status, which came from the 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS). The weighting categories were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18-29, 30-44, 45-59, 60+)
• Race-Ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic African American, Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic Other/2+ Races, Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School grad, Some College, Bachelor or Higher)
• Household Income (Under $25K, $25K-$49,999, $50K-$74,999, $75K-$99,999, $100K-$149,999, $150K and Over)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West)
• Metropolitan Status (Metro, Non-Metro)
• Language Proficiency (English Proficient Hispanic, Bilingual Hispanic, Spanish Proficient Hispanic, Non-Hispanic)
• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18-44, 45+) by Race-Ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic African American, Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic Other/2+ Races, Hispanic,)
• Education (Some College or less, Bachelor or Higher) by Race-Ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic African American, Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic Other/2+ Races, Hispanic)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West) by Race-Ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic African American, Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic Other/2+ Races, Hispanic)

Because benchmarks for current college students (including recent graduates and rising first year students) are not available from the ACS or the CPS, benchmarks for this augment sample were derived from KnowledgePanel sample. All 18 to 24 year KnoweldgePanelists were weighted to ACS and CPS benchmarks to secure benchmarks for the qualified subset. The weighting categories for college students were as follows:

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18-21, 22-24)
• Education (Some College or less, Bachelor or Higher)
• Race-Ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic African American, Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic Other/2+ Races, Hispanic)
• Household Income (Under $50K, $50K-$74,999, $75K-$99,999, $100K and over)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.36 for all adults. 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.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, U.S.
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2011
[email protected]

Mallory Newall
Vice President, U.S.
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 202 374-2613
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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