Americans distrustful of Biden, Trump over First Amendment protections, new poll shows

A new poll by a leading First Amendment advocacy group shows a majority of Americans believe their freedom of expression is under increasing peril, with respondents equally fearful of the ability of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to defend their First Amendment rights.

As the 2024 presidential election cycle heats up, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, known as FIRE, is partnering with the Polarization Research Lab, a research and data organization documenting partisan divide, to survey American’s confidence in the state of the First Amendment.

According to the results, 30% of respondents had “no confidence at all” that Biden would protect their First Amendment rights, while 20% answered that they had full confidence he would.

Respondents were only slightly less trusting of Trump, with 33% stating they had no confidence in his ability to protect the First Amendment, and 18% saying they had “full confidence.”

Meanwhile, 63% of respondents also believe the nation is headed in the “wrong direction” concerning whether people are able to freely express their views.

The survey of 1,000 Americans, titled The National Speech Index, will be conducted quarterly and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“We found that only about 37% said (freedom of) expression is on the right track in this country,” said Sean Stevens, chief research adviser at FIRE. “So that's not great. That is an increase from a couple months ago when we ran the survey in January, when it was around 30%, but I wouldn't make too much over a few data points. It's underwater.”

The poll also reflects the belief by Americans in the importance of the First Amendment. When asked whether the First Amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees,” 45% of respondents disagreed.

More: Biden and Trump agree to two televised debates, bucking commission

But respondents are unsure whether those enshrined rights are safe, the poll found. When asked whether they felt their First Amendment rights were secure, responses were mixed, undefined only saying they were “somewhat” sure.

Those concerned about the security of the First Amendment also vary between ideologies. According to the poll, those self identified as very conservative and conservative are more concerned than those who say they are very liberal, liberal or moderate.

The poll found 53% of very conservative Americans think their First Amendment rights are “not at all” secure, while only 16% think their rights are “very” or “completely” secure.

Those who identify as conservative, not very-conservative, reported similar — but not as strong — feelings: around 35% feel their First Amendment rights are “not at all” secure, while 16% said their rights are “very” or “completely” secure.

Moderate Americans fall right between the conservative and liberal ends, with about 27% responding that their First Amendment rights are “very” or “completely” secure, and roughly 20% said that their rights are “not at all” secure.

Very liberal and liberal Americans feel much more positive about the security of the First Amendment, according to the results. Around 37% of those who classify themselves as very liberal, and 34% of liberal Americans, feel that their First Amendment rights are “very” or “completely” secure.

Only about 14% of very liberal and 12% of liberal Americans said that their rights are “not at all” secure, according to the poll.

Stevens said that while troubling, the results weren’t entirely shocking — especially regarding confidence in the leading presidential candidates.

“I think they are capturing a state of a very polarized country, on each side," he said. "I think in both cases, the support for their candidate is maybe motivated more by a really strong dislike of the other side. Not so much confidence in (their candidate).”

The survey will continue throughout the year, according to Stevens, who described the partnership with the Polarization Lab as “eye-opening.”

“The Polarization Research Lab runs a weekly survey called America's Political Pulse,” he said. “They sample 1,000 Americans every week, and they ask a series of questions, with a lot of it about polarization. So four times a year, (FIRE) will be adding 10 questions to their to their survey focusing on free speech.”

According to Stevens, five free speech questions will remain the same on each survey, to provide a baseline, while five will change with current events.

More: Your Voter Guide to the 2024 Presidential Election

Campus free speech

One likely significant change in data results that Stevens expects to see in the next survey: responses to questions about campus free speech issues.

On the current survey, which asked how often colleges and universities should take a stance on a political issue, 32% of respondents said never, while 33% said sometimes with the remainder scattered in between.

The poll found 46% of respondents said it is never acceptable to shout down a speaker, and 81% said it’s never acceptable to use physical violence to stop a speaker.

More: Vanderbilt University claims a commitment to free speech. But does it deliver?

Stevens said these questions will need to be repeated following the series of massive campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

“I'll stress that we asked this before these college protests began, at the beginning of April,” he said. “So we'll probably ask this again one more time this year, and we’ll see what shakes out.”

As the nation creeps closer to the presidential election, Stevens believes poll results like these can help expose the issues Americans are entrenched on — whether related to the First Amendment or not.

“It's important to capture how divided we are,” he said. “Not just this very narrow issue of free speech, but the larger, deeper polarized divide that exists in the country….I think we could ask about probably almost any issue and I think we get similar results. So I don't think it's unique to freedom of speech.”

The USA Today Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.

Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: FIRE poll shows distrust of Biden, Trump on First Amendment basis