What do Americans know about the First Amendment? Perhaps more than we’ve known in years.
Both the Annenberg Public Policy Center and Freedom Forum have just released new studies that show significantly increased awareness of the five freedoms of the First Amendment, since just five years ago.
The two studies ask respondents whether they can name any of the five freedoms in the First Amendment. The response is open-ended; “the right to bear arms” is a common wrong answer.
It’s a time-tested question, a staple of Freedom Forum First Amendment Center surveys from 1997 to 2019. Full disclosure: I was the center’s executive director in 1997, and my colleague Gene Policinski and I oversaw many of the studies to follow.
Over 23 years, the results were always illuminating – and disappointing. A third of Americans could not name a single First Amendment freedom; freedom of speech was the only right that more than 20 percent of Americans could name.
The 2024 surveys show a much more extensive understanding of the First Amendment. In remarkably similar findings, both Annenberg and the Freedom Forum found that knowledge of each of the amendment’s five freedoms is higher than historic levels.
In the Annenberg and Freedom Forum surveys, 37 percent of those polled could identify freedom of religion as a core element of the First Amendment, up from 29 percent just five years earlier.
Awareness of the right of assembly has grown dramatically. Five years ago, 12 percent could cite it; today 28 percent name it in the Freedom Forum study and 27 percent in Annenberg’s report.
The right to petition has always been the forgotten freedom of the First Amendment, and more than two decades of research saw just one or two percent of Americans able to name it. Today, it’s cited by 12 percent in the Freedom Forum report and 11 percent in the Annenberg study.
Awareness of freedom of the press has always been surprisingly low, given our nation’s preoccupation with news media. Freedom Forum surveys in this century have hovered at around 14 percent awareness. Today press freedom is noted by 25 percent of respondents (Freedom Forum) and 29 percent (Annenberg.)
Freedom of speech is the one First Amendment freedom named by a majority of respondents over the past 25 years. Five years ago, 64 percent identified it in a Freedom Forum study; today both Annenberg (74 percent) and the Freedom Forum (73 percent) show gains.
Across the board, Americans know more about every one of the five freedoms, with dramatic increases of awareness of assembly and petition.
Why would that be? Perhaps it’s the extensive coverage of First Amendment controversies in recent years, including:
- The use of assembly and free speech in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
- Debates over freedom of religion tied to diversity-and-inclusion training and mandatory use of preferred pronouns in public classrooms.
- Challenges to social media moderation policies and the implications for free speech.
- Disputes over the rights of public employees and public school students posting controversial views online.
- Widespread efforts to remove books from public school libraries.
That list only scratches the surface. In a highly polarized nation, the First Amendment has become highly politicized, with both major parties painting their opponents as censors and suppressors.
Those who have worked in First Amendment advocacy over the years know how unusual this heightened awareness is. For years, when I was asked about the greatest threat to the First Amendment, I would say “complacency” or “apathy.”
No more. It appears that America’s culture clashes have had a silver lining. Americans now know more about the five freedoms of the First Amendment. If we could only combine that awareness of one’s own freedoms with respect for their exercise by others, we would be making real progress.
Editor’s note: The Freedom Forum survey asked the freedom-identification question in two ways. In one version, it offered respondents a list of subjects and asked which were First Amendment freedoms. In the other, the question was asked without prompting. This column is based on the latter data.
Ken Paulson is the director of the Free Speech Center and a former president of the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center.
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