UC Berkeley Poll: 53% of California Democrats Oppose Free Speech

by JOEL B. POLLAK
Breitbart
Sep. 13, 2017

A new poll conducted by the University of California Berkeley reveals that a majority of California Democrats oppose the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and assembly, at least as it applies to extreme right-wing groups. A plurality (46%) of all Californians feels the same way.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Forty-six percent of California voters say we've gone too far in allowing white nationalists to demonstrate while 43 percent say the rallies should not be restricted and 11 percent had no opinion.

And Democrats, especially, appear to be grappling with the complex issue in deep blue California.

In the wake of violent protests from Charlottesville to Berkeley, more than half, a full 53 percent of California's Democratic voters, believe we have gone too far in allowing those demonstrations. Some 50 percent of California Republicans, meanwhile, believe the right to demonstrate should not be restricted, compared with 39 percent of Democrats.

The poll's results reportedly surprised the pollster who conducted it. "I would have thought the liberals would be defending the right to demonstrate in general," Mark DiCamillo told the Mercury News.

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