Many Americans share the misperception that America is divided on freedom of speech issues. People on different sides disagree about what constitutes hate speech, what types of speech should be protected, and whether suppression of speech can be productive.

However, some recent surveys have found that many Republicans and Democrats share significant overlaps when it comes to speech.

Check out these surveys conducted in the past few years:

Pew Research Center

(Survey conducted June 16 to 22, 2020)
Key points:

  • 73% of all U.S. adults “say it is likely that social media sites censor political viewpoints,” including 90% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats
  • 67% of all U.S. adults have “not too much” confidence or “none at all” in “social media companies determin[ing] which posts on their platforms should be labeled as inaccurate or misleading,” including 84% of Republicans and 52% of Democrats

Knight Foundation

(Survey conducted October 28 to December 19, 2019)
Key points:

  • 81% of all college students believed that college students should be exposed to “all types of speech,” including 90% of Republicans and 74% of Democrats
  • 81% of all college students supported creating “...a free-speech zone, a designated area of campus in which protesting or distributing literature is permitted,” including 85% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans
  • 78% of all college students supported “providing safe spaces, or areas of campus that are designed to be free from threatening actions, ideas or conversations,” including 89% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans
  • 78% of all college students supported colleges’ ability to prohibit students from using “slurs and other language on campus that is intentionally offensive to certain groups,” including 87% of Democrats and 62% of Republicans
  • 68% of all college students believed that freedom of speech is extremely important, including 72% of Republicans and 65% of Democrats (less than 1% of each party believed that freedom of speech is not important)
  • 59% of all college students believed that freedom of speech is secure or very secure, including 63% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans
  • 58% of all college students believed that the federal government should “be able to deny [federal] funds to a college if it believes that college is not adequately protecting free speech rights on its campus,” including 66% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats

More in Common

(Survey conducted in December 2017 to January 2018)
Key points:

  • 80% of all Americans “believe that political correctness is a problem in society”
  • 74% of all Americans believed that people “should be able to say what they really think, even when it offends people,” including 78% of Traditional Conservatives and 65% of Traditional Liberals
  • 67% of all Americans believed that it is necessary “to protect people from dangerous and hateful speech,” including 75% of Traditional Liberals and 56% of Traditional Conservatives

Cato Institute

(Survey conducted August 15 to 23, 2017)
Key points:

  • 79% of all Americans believed that it is morally unacceptable “to say things that might be offensive to racial or religious groups,” including 85% of Democrats and 74% of Republicans
  • 70% of all Americans believed that “A big problem this country has is being politically correct,” including 90% of Republicans and 50% of Democrats
  • 70% of all Americans believed that the government should not have the power to prohibit “...a news media outlet from publishing a story that government officials say is biased or inaccurate,” including 76% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans
  • 62% of all Americans “favor a law that would make it illegal to make statements in public that call for violent protests,” including 66% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans

Jackson Lanzer is a high school senior and a young professional member of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He has contributed to contestedpolitics.com and is now writing depolarizing articles. His writing has been referenced in USA Today, and he has won several regional Scholastic Writing Awards. Jackson has a Center bias.

This piece was edited by AllSides.com Managing Editor Henry A. Brechter (Center bias), and was reviewed by James Coan (Center) of Braver Angels.

Common Ground, Free Speech, United News Roundup, Online Censorship, Hate Speech, Campus Speech