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The Freedom Forum Institute just released a study that showed that Americans don’t understand the First Amendment, nor do they have any idea what it actually says.
According to Advocates for Freedom, researchers talked to respondents of all age groups and political affiliations to find out whether they knew exactly what freedoms the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees. What they discovered was that an incredible 40 percent of respondents were unable to list any of them.
“Others managed to name at least one, with freedom of speech being recalled by 56 percent of those surveyed, followed by freedom of religion, which was mentioned by 13 percent of participants, freedom of the press (13 percent), and right of assembly, (12 percent.)
Only two percent recalled right to petition “the Government for a redress of grievances,” as the amendment states.
Interestingly enough, nine percent of respondents named the right to bear arms, which is guaranteed by the Second Amendment, as one of the freedoms protected under the First Amendment.
Trying to figure out whether Ivy League students would fare better than the respondents of the Freedom Forum Institute survey, Campus Reform went to Columbia University and offered any student who could recall all five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment a $20 bill.
Needless to say, nobody took home the prize.”
WIBC host Tony Katz commented on the poll during his afternoon show Friday. Click the link below to check it out.
