JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Younger Americans are more likely to support violence to stop harmful speech than older generations - That’s the finding of a new nationwide poll conducted by Florida State University.
The poll asked 1,400 Americans whether they agree with violence as a means to stop speech they don’t agree with.
The results reveal a concerning trend, according to Ryan Owens, Director of the Institute for Governance and Civics at FSU.
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“I think it’s quite clear that there is a growing intolerance that’s creeping along the landscape right now,” said Owens.
The poll found 20 percent of younger adults believe physical violence is an acceptable way to stop harmful speech, compared to only 11 percent of older adults.
“In other surveys we did, we asked younger folks questions that are as simple as how comfortable would you be dating somebody of the opposite political persuasion and the results there were pretty alarming. I mean, in some instances, some groups were twice as likely to say that they would date an ex-felon than they were a political opponent,” said Owens.
59 percent of respondents also agreed that some speech can be as harmful as physical violence.
Owens noted that those who agreed with that sentiment were also more likely to support restrictions on speech.
“Not only are younger people more likely to support the use of violence, but young liberals in particular. Almost a third of them said that sometimes violence could be justified to stop speech,” said Owens.
However, students we spoke with at UNF disavowed the use of violence to combat speech.
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“I don’t think there should be any violence with just speech,” said UNF freshman Parker Herrin.
“For me, I don’t think violence is a solution to prevent anything but violence,” said sophomore Ivan Stevenson.
At the same time, though, they indicated they’re not surprised more young people appear to be warming to the idea of violence.
“It just seems more, I guess, usual,” said Herrin.
“We’ve had a lot of incidents, a lot of unfortunate things that have happened that we’ve had to bear the brunt of that. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to think that we’re at a breaking point,” said UNF sophomore Joseph Hall.
Owens told Action News Jax the poll also revealed a possible solution to the growing acceptance of violence to combat speech.
He said increased civics literacy correlated with increased tolerance of opposing speech.
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