Americans overwhelmingly value the First Amendment — but don’t value all parts of it equally, the Freedom Forum’s recently released “Where America Stands” survey found. Of more than 3,000 people surveyed in fall 2020, 94% feel the First Amendment is vital.
But the strong overall reverence for the First Amendment does not carry over to the press — whether we’re using that term as one of the five freedoms mentioned in the First Amendment or as an institution. Just 4% said freedom of the press is the most essential First Amendment freedom. That trails 41% who said all the freedoms are essential and lags behind speech (33%), religion (14%) and petition (5%), beating only assembly (3%).
Even worse: Only 14% trust journalists, and 41% say journalists are a threat to the First Amendment.
