74% of Americans say freedom of speech is ‘heading in wrong direction’ in US: FIRE poll

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) quarterly National Speech Index asked Americans, "When it comes to whether people are able to freely express their views do you think things in America are heading in the RIGHT or WRONG direction," to which 74 percent said it is heading in the wrong direction. This is a 10-point jump from July’s survey. Only 26 percent said its heading in the right direction, down from 37 percent in July.

Republican respondents are the only political group of which the majority said that free speech was heading in the right direction, at 55 percent. This is down from 69 percent in July. Among Democrats, 11 percent said its heading in the right direct, down from 17 percent, and 19 percent of independents responded as such, down from 31 percent.

FIRE Research Fellow & Polling Manager Nathan Honeycutt said, "In the last three months, America watched as Charlie Kirk was murdered for simply debating on a college campus, followed immediately by a wave of censorship of those who opposed his views. It’s no surprise that a record number of Americans of all parties now think that it’s a dire time for free speech in America."

The poll also asked whether a hypothetical college professor should be fired for comments such as, "It’s OK to punch a Nazi," with 45 percent of respondents saying they should or probably should be fired; "These fascists Bible-thumpers want to drag us back to the Dark Ages," with 37 percent saying they should be or probably should be fired; and "We are going to make America great again," with 14 percent saying they should be fired.

FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said, "Americans were most divided on the statement supporting political violence, but it’s heartening that most Americans correctly backed academic freedom. On the other hand, it’s deeply concerning that we intentionally included some rather tame political statements — including the winning slogan of the last presidential election — and vocal minorities still called for the professor’s firing."

The poll was conducted between October 20 and 208 of 1,000 Americans and has a margin of error of 3 percent.