Survey: Free Speech Support Is Eroding in America
A new global survey reveals a stark decline in Americans' support for free speech as the Trump administration tightens its grip on expression.
Last month, Vice President J.D. Vance lectured European leaders about their troubling retreat from free speech, calling their actions "shocking to American ears" and a threat to democracy itself. Yet new global survey data reveal a troubling incongruity in Vance's own backyard: Despite boasting the world's strongest constitutional protections, Americans' support for free speech is eroding dramatically, particularly among younger generations.
At a time when the Trump administration weaponizes power against its critics and the left increasingly equates speech with harm, America is losing its civil libertarian commitment precisely when this foundational right faces unprecedented pressures from both cultural intolerance and governmental overreach. If Americans fail to recognize and reverse this trend, the country's status as a beacon of free expression risks fading.
The 2025 Future of Free Speech Index, based on surveys conducted in 33 countries, places the United States ninth globally in free speech support—a respectable but hardly exceptional position. More concerning is the trajectory: The U.S. has experienced the third-largest decline in support for free speech since our previous survey in 2021, behind only Japan and Israel.
This phenomenon is part of a broader "free speech recession" happening globally, with twice as many countries showing substantial decreases in support for free expression as showing increases.
But America's retreat is particularly notable given its unique constitutional protection and self-conception as free speech's foremost defender.
In fact, the strongest popular support for free speech is found in the Old World, with Norway and Denmark first and second and Sweden in the top five, along with two democratic backsliders: Hungary and Venezuela. These latter cases present a fascinating paradox—populations that strongly value free expression despite living under governments increasingly hostile to this right. This disconnect between "demand" for free speech and its actual "supply" suggests that citizens in these countries recognize what they're losing as their governments tighten restrictions.
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of America's free speech recession is the generational divide in attitudes. Young Americans (ages 18 to 34) now show significantly less tolerance for controversial speech than their elders across every category we measured. The magnitude of these shifts since 2021 is remarkable:
- Support for allowing statements insulting the national flag has plummeted 28 percentage points among young adults.
- Willingness to tolerate speech supporting homosexual relationships has dropped 20 points.
- Acceptance of speech offensive to minority groups has declined 12 points.
- Tolerance for speech offensive to one's religion has fallen 14 points.
These aren't minor fluctuations—they represent fundamental shifts in values within a short period. While older Americans (ages 55 and over) have maintained relatively stable attitudes, showing only single-digit declines in most categories, the steep drops among younger cohorts raise profound questions about the future of free expression in America.
College-educated Americans show another surprising shift. This group, traditionally associated with openness to diverse viewpoints, has markedly decreased its support for controversial speech since 2021.
These shifts defy simple partisan explanations. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris voters show identical support for government criticism (89 percent) and similar tolerance for flag insults. The partisan divide appears elsewhere. Trump supporters express higher tolerance for speech offensive to minorities (76 percent vs. 54 percent) and religion (80 percent vs. 74 percent), while Harris supporters more strongly back speech supporting homosexual relationships (83 percent vs. 78 percent).
Interestingly, Trump supporters show greater support than Harris voters for media publishing information that might affect national security (47 percent vs. 35 percent) or economic stability (75 percent vs. 69 percent)—suggesting their commitment to free expression extends to areas where conservatives have traditionally favored restrictions.
Americans' shifting free speech attitudes coincide with a technological revolution. Since ChatGPT's 2022 launch, generative AI has achieved unprecedented adoption rates. This technology is fundamentally transforming how information is created and shared. Over 80 percent of American adults reported having used AI-enabled products, with frequent usage particularly high among younger Americans—the same demographic showing the steepest declines in free speech support.
This convergence presents a striking anomaly: While Americans eagerly adopt powerful new tools for expression, their tolerance for AI-generated sensitive content—such as deepfakes of politicians—remains low (21.5 percent), while support for government regulation of AI-generated speech is high (53 percent). Given that AI is being rapidly integrated into tools we use to interact with information and ideas (email, search, word processing, etc), government or corporate control of this technology could have profound consequences for free speech and access to information.
Despite the decline in support, Americans still value free speech. But our survey findings should alarm all who share Frederick Douglass's view that free speech is the "great moral renovator of society and government". Left unchecked, the decline in support could reshape America's speech environment for generations.
However, robust support for free speech is urgently needed in the present. President Trump and his administration intimidate media outlets with baseless lawsuits while weaponizing legitimate concerns about cancel culture and censorial Big Tech to impose government control over higher education and social media. The administration has even resorted to arresting and revoking visas and green cards based on speech otherwise protected by the First Amendment.
But this isn't a time for despair. American history provides instructive examples of how surges of intolerance can be reversed by appealing to the underlying principles of the First Amendment.
Just seven years after ratifying the First Amendment, America faced one of its earliest tests of free speech. The Sedition Act of 1798, pushed by the Federalist Party and President John Adams, criminalized criticism of the government. Critics, led by Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, saw it as a betrayal of the Constitution. Despite aggressive enforcement—including prosecutions of newspaper editors and citizens—the crackdown backfired. Republican newspapers doubled, public outrage grew, and Jefferson's election in 1800 marked a decisive rejection of government censorship. This early episode demonstrates how attempts to suppress dissent often fuel the very resistance they seek to quell.
Prior to U.S. involvement in World War I, President Woodrow Wilson's warnings about "the poison of disloyalty" led to the first Red Scare, marked by mass prosecutions of peaceful dissenters. This period, however, sparked a turning point in free speech law. Harvard professor Zechariah Chafee emerged as a principled civil libertarian, influencing Supreme Court Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis. Their powerful dissents laid the foundation for modern First Amendment jurisprudence, establishing the U.S. as a global leader in protecting political expression. This history reminds us that even in moments of intolerance, principled advocacy can reshape the legal and cultural landscape.
America's free speech tradition stands at a critical crossroads. As political polarization deepens, social media fragments the public sphere, and AI rapidly transforms how we create and consume information, the vital benefits of free expression must once again be forcefully defended and clearly articulated.
Restoring America's commitment to free speech requires intellectual humility and a willingness to course-correct across ideological divides. Those who dismiss cancel culture as a moral panic or view the First Amendment as a shield for harmful speech should reconsider how antispeech attitudes weaken the very mechanisms that empower marginalized voices. Conversely, conservatives who celebrated a Trump presidency as an antidote to left-wing censors must now confront the administration's troubling use of state power to silence critics. Protecting free speech demands a shared commitment, regardless of political loyalties—one that prioritizes principle over partisan advantage.
Future-proofing free speech in the digital age requires more than just resisting censorship—it demands redesigning online platforms to encourage context, transparency, and user control. Instead of centralized content bans or opaque algorithmic suppression, social media must empower users to make informed choices about their information environments, a policy that has been successfully implemented in Taiwan.
These are just the first steps in restoring America's commitment to free speech. The challenge ahead is ensuring that free expression remains a living principle—not just a convenient slogan—one that can withstand the pressures of political polarization, technological disruption, and shifting cultural tides.
