What do American people think about free speech?
Social axis · 🇺🇸 the United States · measured continuously, published only above 100 responses.
30% of American respondents take the position “The state should stop speech that puts down small groups.”, against 42% for “People should be free to say hurtful things without the state stepping in.”, with 28% choosing neither. n = 109, margin of error ±9.9, weighted to the United States's adult population.
Where the United States sits on social
What is measured about the United States on this axis. These are facts about the country, not what its people think about them — that is the part of this page waiting on a sample.
|
Using the internet
ITU · 2024
|
94.7% |
higher than most countries
|
|
Tertiary enrolment
UNESCO UIS · 2022
|
79.4% |
higher than most countries
|
Ranked against every country with a published figure for the same series. Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators, which republish UN, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, SIPRI, IISS and UNODC data.
The questions that bear on free speech
Asked as a forced choice between two written positions, in randomised order, with the sides flipped for half of respondents.
|
A · People should be free to say hurtful things without the state stepping in.
B · The state should stop speech that puts down small groups.
World, unweighted: 40% A ·
27% neither ·
33% B · n = 4765
|
30% B 🇺🇸 n=109 |
|
A · Keeping order matters more than letting people be themselves.
B · Letting people be themselves matters more than keeping order.
World, unweighted: 45% A ·
22% neither ·
33% B · n = 4737
|
33% B 🇺🇸 n=113 |
A national figure appears only once that nation clears 100 responses on the question. The world column is a raw count of every answer received and is not post-stratified — it is shown because withholding it would say less, not more.
Asked another way
The same question, as people put it.
- The united states public opinion on free speech
- Free speech poll the united states
- What do american people think about free speech
- What percentage of american people support free speech
Each has one answer on this page, and it is the same answer.