Inconsistency of Americans’ opinions on free speech: evidence from three survey experiments

Abstract

ABSTRACT A conventional wisdom is that Americans strongly support freedom of speech. However, recent experimental studies show that opinions on specific controversial cases involving freedom of speech can be affected by ideology and partisanship. In this research note, we explore the consistency of Americans’ support for the general principles of free speech. In three survey-experimental studies that ask questions about different aspects of free speech, we show that Americans’ opinions on free speech are inconsistent. First, responses to the free speech questions are strongly affected by their polarity. Second, reliability of the resulting scale is surprisingly low. Third, employing double-barreled questions that contrast free speech to other values (social justice and patriotism) increases the scale’s reliability. Taken together, these findings suggest that, first, abstract free speech questions simply measure tolerance and, second, framing free speech measures around specific controversies better captures free speech attitudes.