National Survey Finds Bipartisan Support for Expansive View of Rights
Heading into the 2020 election, a national survey of American attitudes toward rights and freedoms in the United States finds surprising bipartisan support by substantial majorities of Americans for rights that are now frequently under political attack. At the same time, the poll reveals that majorities of people feel that rights are facing “serious threat” and are not “secure” and that neither the US government nor US citizens are “doing a good job enforcing and respecting rights.”
The research was led by the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School, with support from the School’s Institute of Politics. The poll is part of a larger Carr Center initiative analyzing the condition of rights in the United States in 2020 and American attitudes toward rights and responsibilities. The project also includes focus groups in Phoenix, Arizona; Detroit, Michigan; and Atlanta, Georgia. The Reimagining Rights Project will publish conclusions and recommendations for policymakers in a major research report in October.
The report is part of a Carr Center project on Reimagining Rights and Responsibilities in the United States, directed by John Shattuck, Carr Center Senior Fellow and former US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The report and the project are overseen by a faculty committee chaired by Carr Center Faculty Director Mathias Risse, with the participation of Executive Director Sushma Raman, and the support of the Carr Center staff. The nationwide poll of 2,093 adults was conducted by NORC, an independent research institution at the University of Chicago, between July 6-28, 2020. The margin of error for this study is +/-2.76%.