Americans view college campuses as friendlier to liberals than to conservatives.
According to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 47% of adults say liberals have "a lot" of freedom to express their views on college campuses, while just 20% said the same of conservatives.
"People view a great deal of inequity when it comes to who is able to speak freely on university campuses," said Jennifer Benz, deputy director of The AP-NORC Center, said in a statement. "People are more than twice as likely
to say liberals can speak their minds freely compared to conservatives."
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to feel conservatives are less able to freely speak due to a less inclusive environment for them on campuses, according to the poll. Only 9% of Republicans say conservatives have a lot of ability to freely speak their minds on college campuses,
compared to 31% of Democrats.
Most believe college campuses are doing a good job providing an inclusive environment for liberals, but not conservatives. The survey shows 38% of Democrats think colleges and universities are doing a good job creating an inclusive environment for conservatives, in contrast to just 19% of Republicans. Nearly half of both Democrats and Republicans feel universities are doing a good job for liberals though.
"Opinions among adults are almost evenly divided regarding whether people being allowed to say harmful or misleading things or prevented from saying what they want is a bigger problem on college and university campuses these days," the poll noted.