Kids today: 4 in 10 call Constitution ‘outdated,’ OK with silencing speech.
Among the key findings in the survey of college undergraduates conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for the program:
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Thirty-six percent believe the Constitution is outdated, while 52% call it “important.” A year ago, 63% called the founding document important.
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While support for the First Amendment is at 72%, that is the lowest in six years.
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More students, by a margin of 48%-41%, favor “speech codes.”
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For the first time, a majority of students (52%) “now say they share the same opinions and beliefs as all or most of their friends.” Only a third have friends who don’t think like them.
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Forty percent agree that “it is sometimes appropriate to shout down or disrupt a speaker on campus.”
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Thirty-nine percent “agree that violence can be justified to prevent a person from using hate speech or making racially charged comments, while 51% disagree. This is the highest ‘agree’ number in four years and an eight-point increase from last year.”
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Fifty-three percent feel intimidated in sharing their views if they disagree with their professor.
h/t Glenn