More than half of adults say the First Amendment sometimes ‘goes too far’

A quarterly poll has found that more than half of Americans think constitutional rights to free expression sometimes goes too far.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and Dartmouth College’s Polarization Research Lab reported Thursday that 53% of adults surveyed agreed at least slightly that the First Amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees.”

That included 51% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats who said the statement at least “slightly describes” their thoughts.

“Evidently, one out of every two Americans wishes they had fewer civil liberties,” said Sean Stevens, chief research advisor for FIRE, a Philadelphia-based free-speech group. “Many of them reject the right to assemble, to have a free press, and to petition the government. This is a dictator’s fantasy.”

Respondents were divided almost equally on questions about restricting college protests of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which some Jewish groups have flagged for antisemitic rhetoric.

For example, the study found that 38% of survey participants said universities should allow the protests to continue, compared to 28% who favored arresting protesters and 34% who were unsure.

Overall, 69% of surveyed adults said the country is heading in the “wrong direction” on free speech. That included four-fifths of self-identified Republicans and half of Democrats.

Those figures were on par with the last two surveys, including 69% of respondents in January and 63% in April who said the country is heading in the wrong direction.

According to FIRE, 56% of adults surveyed in January and 55% in April at least slightly agreed that the First Amendment goes too far.

Dartmouth’s lab and FIRE conducted the online poll July 5-10, surveying 1,000 members of a YouGov panel. The margin of error was three percentage points.