45% of Americans think the government is good at defending freedom of speech: polls

According to the Associated Press, a poll found that 45% of Americans believe that the U.S. government has done a good job in protecting freedom of speech, while 32% of Americans believe that the government has done a poor job.

The poll was conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center, which tried to compare current American views on their rights with data from similar polls conducted in 2011 and 2015. For 45% of Americans, the government’s defense of freedom of speech is down from 71% in 2011 and 59% in 2015.

According to the Associated Press, fewer Americans also believe that religious freedom is fully protected. Compared with the three-quarters of the respondents approved in 2011, about half of the respondents said the government has done a good job in defending rights. very good. For the right to equal protection in accordance with the law, the situation is similar. 27% of the respondents said that the government has done a good job in protecting this right, compared with 48% in 2011.

For more reports from the Associated Press, please see below.

Dee Geddes, 73, a retiree in Chamberlain, South Dakota, said she was frustrated by the government’s apparent lack of capacity to protect the amount of private information available, especially online information.

“It bothers me when I can find any information about almost anyone on the Internet. It makes me feel a little naked,” said Guedes, a self-proclaimed Republican. “It does bother me how much the government knows about us, but it can be traced back to the fact that there is too much time. It is frustrating.”

The poll also found that 54% of Americans said that “sometimes it is necessary for the government to sacrifice some rights and freedoms to fight terrorism,” compared with 64% a decade ago. Now, 44% of people say this is not necessary at all.

most Democratic Party Said that it is sometimes necessary, which is basically consistent with previous AP-NORC polls.but Republicans Now there are big differences. 46% of people say it is sometimes necessary, and 53% say it is never necessary. In 2011, 69% of Republicans said it was sometimes necessary, and in 2015, 62% said the same.

Brandon Wilson, 23, a business and animation student at Glen Ellind Page College in Illinois, who claims to be a conservative, said he understands that the measures taken after September 11 initially seemed to restrict the rights of Americans. But he ultimately felt that these actions were for the greater good.

“I think this is a good idea,” Wilson said of increasing airline passenger checks and other measures. “The government is helping the public, in general, it is trying to make people’s lives better.”

However, opinion polls show that, overall, Americans are becoming more and more vigilant about government surveillance in the name of national security.

The poll asked about various rights and freedoms, including many of the rights and freedoms clearly outlined in the constitutional bill of rights, as well as some rights and freedoms that are protected by laws and court rulings.

It found that 44% of people think that the government has done a good job in protecting freedom of the press, while 26% think that the government has done a bad job. In 2011 and 2015, about six out of ten people said that the government did a good job.

Americans have roughly the same views on how the government protects freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. About one-third said it was done well, and about one-third said it was not well done. In 2011 and 2015, opinions were slightly more negative than negative, although less than half of Americans said the country did a good job.

Tony Gay, a 60-year-old retiree living in Cincinnati, said he generally supports the government’s initiatives to protect civil liberties. He said that his 10 years of service in the military helped reinforce his view that sacrifice is sometimes necessary to preserve freedom.

Guy said: “If there is no one to protect it, you can’t enjoy freedom 24/7.” “So when they restrict travel, I totally agree, because it is to ensure my safety and ensure that the person next to me is safe.”

43% of Americans believe that the U.S. government has done a good job protecting voting rights, while 37% said it has done a poor job. In contrast, 70% of the respondents said that they did a good job in 2015, and 84% said that they did well in 2011.

Americans are now also divided on whether the government is doing well or not in protecting the right to bear arms, 35% versus 36%, but in 2011, more people think the government is doing a good job rather than a bad one, 57% versus 27%. point.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say that the government has done a good job protecting multiple rights and freedoms, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to possess and bear arms.

But Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that the government has done a poor job of implementing equal protection in accordance with the law, at 54% and 46%, respectively. Democrats and Republicans have similar views on how the government protects voting rights, and their views are obviously not as positive as previous polls.

Gay said that even though he is relatively satisfied with the government’s protection of basic civil liberties, he believes that regular reviews of these policies and those who make them should be necessary.

“It’s like when you are in politics, you are free to play,” Guy said. “It gives me a mixed feeling about who is watching us.”