Over the weekend, Megyn Kelly weighed in on a RealClearPolitics survey that revealed a significant portion of Democrats are in favor of limiting free speech.
“This is what we’re up against,” Kelly remarked on social media, calling attention to a seemingly rising tide of support for censorship within the Democratic party.
The survey revealed that 47% of Democrats believe free speech should be legally permitted “only under certain circumstances.”
In contrast, a narrow majority of Democrats (53%) maintained that free speech should always be legal, while a substantial one-third (34%) even contended that Americans have “too much freedom.”
Among Republicans, the numbers present a different picture. A robust 74% support the stance that free speech should be legal “under any circumstances.” Furthermore, 61% of independents echo that sentiment, the RealClearPolitics survey reported.
When it comes to the perception of freedom in America, just 14.6% of Republicans think Americans have “too much freedom.” Meanwhile, almost half of those who identify with the GOP (46%) are more inclined to believe that Americans have too little freedom, rather than too much.
The data also shows that Democrats are increasingly comfortable with government oversight in the realm of digital speech. A majority of Democrats (52%) approve of the government censoring social media posts, so long as it falls “under the rubric of protecting national security.” Conversely, only a third of Republicans and independents are willing to give the government such authority.
Furthermore, when respondents were read the statement, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” just 31% of Democrats “strongly agreed” with this bedrock principle of freedom, compared to 51% of Republicans.
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Earlier this year, a Pew Research Center poll already indicated that Democrats were more inclined than Republicans to support tech companies and the U.S. government restricting content labeled as “extremely violent” or “false information online.”
Specifically, 70% of Democrats, or those leaning Democratic, agreed that steps should be taken to restrict false information online, even at the cost of limiting freedom of information. In stark contrast, just 39% of Republicans or those leaning Republican shared this view.
This ideological gap has widened compared to 2018, when 40% of Democrats and those leaning Democratic supported such restrictions, almost parallel to 37% of Republicans and those leaning GOP.
Earlier this year, journalists working with entrepreneur Elon Musk released “The Twitter Files,” which exposed the extent of correspondence between Twitter’s previous management and federal agencies concerning online content.
Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion, did so with the intent of rolling back content moderation restrictions to allow for a more open dialogue and unfettered speech.
This revelation is especially poignant, given that Twitter was among the platforms that curbed the reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop incident just weeks before the 2020 Presidential Election.
As debates over online censorship intensify, the findings from RealClearPolitics and Pew Research Center reveal a huge area of concern in preserving the fundamental and critical first amendment right of free speech in America.
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