Sean Stevens, chief research advisor for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), says the survey, conducted July 5-10, also shows around 40% trust the government "somewhat," "very much," or "completely" to make fair decisions about speech.
He calls that "a dictator's fantasy."
"The opinion that the First Amendment goes too far has grown a lot more among Democrats," Stevens comments. "But there also are notable declines among independents and Republicans, too, and that is troubling."
Meanwhile, 70% of survey-takers, including 58% of Republicans, said they were not comfortable censoring or limiting the free speech rights of Hamas supporters.
"I think that is showing kind of a more principled stance," responds Stevens. "I would imagine most of the people in that group do not like what they're seeing or hearing from that group of people, but a good portion of them, and a majority of them, are recognizing that it still is protected speech."
The 10-question survey consists of five permanent questions to track support for free speech and the First Amendment over time and five rotating questions to capture public opinion about topical and newsworthy speech-related issues.
In addition to finding that one in every two American wishes they had fewer civil liberties, 23% said they self-censor "fairly" or "very" often (down from 27% in April), and 69% believe that the country is on the wrong track when it comes to free speech.
Stevens thinks the decline in support for free speech might be because social media users see things that outrage them online, triggering an impulse to censor.
