Over the last few days, I’ve posted several posts about liberal vs. conservative attitudes on a range of free speech questions, including “hate speech,” anti-religious speech, and more, both based on questions from the General Social Survey and based on an analysis of Supreme Court Justices’ decisions on these questions (whether from the 1970s to […]
Archive | Liberal vs. Conservative Attitudes on Free Speech
Attitudes on Speech Restrictions Seemingly Reflect Education More Than Whose Ox Is Being Gored
As I mentioned before, the General Social Survey has long asked respondents the following questions (among many others): 76. There are always some people whose ideas are considered bad or dangerous by other people. For instance, somebody who is against churches and religion… a. If such a person wanted to make a speech in your […]
Liberal vs. Conservative Attitudes on Speech by Communists, Homosexuals, and Supporters of Military Dictatorship
By Eugene Volokh on November 19, 2012 7:10 pm in Freedom of Speech, Liberal vs. Conservative Attitudes on Free Speech
I blogged yesterday about liberal/conservative divides among General Social Survey respondents on free speech questions: For anti-religious speech, speech arguing that blacks are genetically inferior, and speech by anti-American Muslim clergy, liberals were somewhat more likely than conservatives to conclude that the speech should be protected, though the gulf wasn’t great, and both liberals and […]
Are Liberal or Conservative Justices More Likely to Protect “Hate Speech”?
By Eugene Volokh on November 19, 2012 6:02 pm in "Hate Speech", Liberal vs. Conservative Attitudes on Free Speech, Supreme Court
I blogged yesterday about whether liberal or conservative Americans are more likely to support protections for various kinds of speech, including speech arguing that blacks are genetically inferior — the General Social Survey question that’s most relevant to the debate about protection for supposed “hate speech.” It turns out that liberals are somewhat more likely […]
Liberal and Conservative American Attitudes Towards Letting Anti-American Muslim Clergy Speak
By Eugene Volokh on November 18, 2012 8:18 pm in Freedom of Speech, Liberal vs. Conservative Attitudes on Free Speech, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
Also from the General Social Survey, though this time with a question that was only asked in 2008 and 2010, yielding a total of 2500 respondents: “Now consider a Muslim clergyman who preaches hatred of the United States. If such a person wanted to make a speech in your community preaching hatred of the United […]
Are Liberal or Conservative Americans More Likely to Support Restrictions on Racist and Anti-Religious Speech?
By Eugene Volokh on November 18, 2012 7:54 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities, Liberal vs. Conservative Attitudes on Free Speech, Religion and the Law
Here’s data from the General Social Survey, limiting the years to 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 (with nearly 8000 total responses for each question), with respondents self-identifying as liberals, moderates, and conservatives. (I have flattened out the gradations within each category — extremely liberal/conservative, plain liberal/conservative, slightly liberal/conservative — partly because otherwise some […]