A third of Americans can’t name any of their rights in the First Amendment
About one third of Americans do not know anything about what the First Amendment guarantees.
According to the Newseum’s 2015 State of the Amendment Survey, 57 percent of the 1,002 American adults surveyed knew that the First Amendment includes the right to free speech. Only 10 percent named freedom of the press and the right of assembly, while 19 percent named freedom of religion.
But only 2 percent in the survey named the right to petition, and “thirty-three percent of Americans cannot name any of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
In the 2014 survey, 68 percent of Americans were able to name freedom of speech, 11 percentage points higher than 2015. Those able to name freedom of religion fell 10 percent.
The First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
This year’s poll showed a decrease in the percentage of Americans who said the First Amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees.” In the last survey, 38 percent said the First Amendment goes too far while 57 percent responded that it does not. This year, 19 percent said it goes too far while 75 percent of those surveyed said it did not.
The percentage of people who think the First Amendment goes too far peaked in 2013, which the Newseum said was possibly attributable to the Boston Marathon bombings. A similar trend occurred after the 2001 terrorist attack, according to the poll.
