Last week, ABC announced that it was suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! after a joke Kimmel made about the Trump administration's reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk. One impetus for the cancellation may have been a threat from the Federal Communications Commission, igniting debate about the state of free speech in the United States. According to a new YouGov survey conducted just before Kimmel's suspension was lifted, Americans' concerns about freedom of speech are at a high point.
The new poll finds that Americans have become more likely to think that freedom of speech is in a bad state and less likely to think that free speech rights in the U.S. are among the best in the world. About half of Americans say that Donald Trump has restricted free speech in his second term as president and a similar share expect that free speech will be weakened in the next few years. A majority of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of free speech and more Americans say the Democrats are the better party at handling freedom of speech than say the Republicans are. Since the start of Trump's second term, Americans have become increasingly likely to view the government as the biggest threat to free speech.
Most Americans say freedom of speech is in a bad state
More than half (55%) of Americans would describe the current state of freedom of speech in the U.S. as somewhat or very bad. Only about one-quarter (27%) would describe it as good.
Democrats and Independents are much more likely to say that freedom of speech is doing badly than to say it is doing well (75% vs. 14% among Democrats and 59% vs. 19% among Independents). On the other hand, about half (49%) of Republicans say freedom of speech is in a good state, while only 32% say it is doing badly.
Comparing these results to previous YouGov polls shows that the overwhelmingly negative evaluation of the state of freedom of speech is a new phenomenon. YouGov polling immediately before and after the presidential election in November 2024 — as well as in December 2024, in February 2025, and in May 2025 — showed that more Americans described the state of freedom of speech as good than described it as bad. There has been a gradual increase since November 2024 in the share of Americans saying that freedom of speech is doing badly, but September 2025 marks the first time our polling shows Americans have been more likely to say it is doing badly than doing well — and they do so by a wide margin.
Evaluations of the state of freedom of speech have worsened among Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. Republicans' evaluations of the state of freedom of speech generally improved after Trump's election win in November 2024, but have declined between May and September 2025. Democrats' and Independents' evaluations have followed a more steady downward trajectory since Trump's election.
Despite Americans' increasingly negative evaluations of freedom of speech, many Americans still believe free speech in the U.S. compares favorably to the rest of the world. Half (50%) of Americans say that freedom of speech in the U.S. is better than most countries or the best in the world. Only 19% say it is worse than most countries or the worst in the world.
Democrats are less likely than Independents or Republicans to think that American freedom of speech compares favorably to the rest of the world. Only slightly more Democrats say that freedom of speech in the U.S. is better than most countries or the best in the world (36%) than say it is worse than most countries or the worst in the world (31%). In contrast, Independents are much more likely to say U.S. freedom of speech compares favorably to the rest of the world (46%) than to say it compares unfavorably (17%). Republicans compare American freedom of speech even more favorably to the rest of the world: 30% of Republicans say freedom of speech in the U.S. is the best in the world, and a further 37% say it is better than most countries. Only 8% of Republicans say Americans' freedom of speech is worse than most countries.
Although Americans generally say that freedom of speech in the U.S. compares favorably to other countries, views have become more negative in the past few months. In June 2025, 62% of Americans said that freedom of speech in the U.S. was better than most countries or the best in the world. In September 2025, that share fell to 50%. And in June, only 10% of Americans said American freedom of speech was worse than most countries. In September, that share nearly doubled to 19% — including 3% who say it is the worst in the world. Since June, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all have become less likely to positively compare U.S. freedom of speech to the rest of the world and more likely to negatively compare it.
Half of Americans say Trump has restricted freedom of speech in his second term
About half (51%) of Americans say that freedom of speech has been restricted during Trump's second term. In contrast, only 15% say it has been expanded and 25% say it has stayed the same.
Democrats overwhelmingly say freedom of speech has been restricted (87%), while only 2% say it has been expanded and 9% say it has stayed the same. About half (52%) of Independents say freedom of speech has been restricted, while 11% say it has been expanded and 19% say it has stayed the same. Only Republicans are more likely to say freedom of speech has been expanded (31%) than to say it has been restricted (15%); about half (48%) of Republicans say freedom of speech has stayed the same.
When Trump's second term began in January 2025, most Americans did not think freedom of speech would be restricted in his second term. Americans were about as likely to say he would expand freedom of speech (32%) as they were to say he would restrict it (31%). The shares of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who say freedom of speech has been restricted are all higher than the shares in January who expected it would be restricted. Conversely, the shares who think freedom of speech has been expanded are all smaller than the shares who predicted it would be.
More Americans expect freedom of speech to be weakened or lost than to be strengthened
Americans are about as likely to expect future restrictions of freedom of speech as they are to think it has been restricted recently. About half (51%) of Americans think that freedom of speech will be weakened or lost entirely in the next few years. Only 16% think it will be strengthened and 19% think it will remain unchanged.
Democrats overwhelmingly believe freedom of speech will erode in coming years: 73% say it will be weakened or lost entirely, while only 8% think it will be strengthened and 9% think it will remain unchanged. Independents also are more likely to think freedom of speech will be weakened than strengthened: 51% say it will be weakened or lost, 12% say it will be strengthened, and 18% say it will stay the same. Republicans are about evenly split between believing freedom of speech will be weakened or lost (29%), will be strengthened (28%), and will remain unchanged (30%).
Expectations about the direction of freedom of speech are more negative today than they were before the 2024 election. In February 2024, before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential election, few Americans expected that freedom of speech would be weakened or lost entirely if either Trump (33%) or Biden (36%) were to win. Today, half (51%) of Americans say freedom of speech will be weakened or lost in the next few years. On the other hand, in 2024 more Americans said that freedom of speech would be strengthened if Trump won the election (35%) than if Biden won (18%). Despite this, only 16% of Americans now believe that freedom of speech will be strengthened in the next few years.
Americans increasingly disapprove of Trump's handling of free speech
A majority (55%) of Americans strongly or somewhat disapprove of the way Trump is handling free speech. Only one-third (34%) approve.
Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump's handling of free speech (93%, vs. 4% who approve). Independents are also much more likely to disapprove than approve (60% vs. 21%). Republicans are more likely to approve of Trump's handling of free speech than to disapprove of it (79% approve vs. 14% who disapprove).
Disapproval of Trump's handling of free speech has gradually increased during his second term, moving in tandem with approval of his handling of other issues and of his overall job performance. In March, Americans were slightly more likely to approve than to disapprove of Trump's handling of free speech (47% approved vs. 43% who disapproved). However, by May, Americans had become more likely to disapprove than to approve (41% approved vs. 44% who disapproved). This gap expanded further to 37% vs. 50% in July and 34% vs. 55% today.
Net approval for Trump's handling of free speech — the share who approve of his handling minus the share who disapprove — has fallen among Republicans, Independents, and Democrats during his second term. Between March and September, net approval of Trump's handling of free speech fell by 14 percentage points among Republicans, 26 points among Independents, and 16 points among Democrats.
Americans rate Democrats better than Republicans at handling free speech
Consistent with the majority disapproval of Trump's handling of free speech, more Americans say the Democrats are the better party at handling American's freedom of speech than say the Republicans are. 39% of Americans pick the Democrats while 31% pick the Republicans.
Both Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly say their own party is better at handling free speech: 86% of Democrats select the Democrats and 76% of Republicans select the Republicans. But Independents are almost twice as likely to pick the Democrats than to pick the Republicans (30% vs. 17%). However, both shares are smaller than the 36% of Independents who say there is no difference between the two major parties when it comes to handling freedom of speech.
Americans increasingly say the government poses the biggest threat to free speech
Most Americans (60%) agree that "the biggest threat to free speech is the government." Only 22% of Americans disagree.
There are significant differences between Democrats, Independents, and Republicans regarding this belief. Democrats overwhelmingly agree (82%, vs. 9% who disagree). Independents are also much more likely to agree than to disagree (60% vs. 18%). But Republicans are about evenly split (40% vs. 39%).
Americans are now more likely to see the government as the greatest threat to free speech than they were in the past. In March 2022, only 45% of Americans agreed with the claim, while 22% disagreed. Agreement was higher just after Trump's inauguration in January 2025: at that point, 54% agreed that the government was the biggest threat to free speech while 25% disagreed. And agreement has continued to increase: Today, 60% of Americans say the government is the biggest threat to free speech and only 22% disagree.
Agreement that the government is the biggest threat to free speech has grown considerably among Democrats and Independents between 2022 and 2025. But Republicans have followed the opposite path. The share of Republicans who agree that the government is the biggest threat to free speech fell slightly from 69% in March 2022 to 60% after Trump's inauguration in January 2025. It then fell sharply to only 40% today.
This year, partisan trends on this claim have flipped. In January, Democrats were less likely than Republicans to agree that the government is the biggest threat to free speech (48% vs. 60%). Today, Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to agree (82% vs. 40%).
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov survey
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Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on September 19 - 22, 2025 among 1,075 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Mario Tama / Staff)
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