After the last few weeks, this is fairly easy to believe.

The FIRE blog reports.

Pew Report: Of All Age Groups, Millennials Most Favor Speech Restrictions

Last week, the Pew Research Center released the results of a global survey finding that Americans were the most supportive of free expression out of any country surveyed, but that 40 percent of all young American adults said the government should censor “offensive” speech.

The survey, Global Support for Principle of Free Expression, but Opposition to Some Forms of Speech, asked more than 40,000 people in 38 countries about their support for freedom of expression. The report found that Americans on the whole were “especially likely to embrace individual liberties,” although majorities in nearly every country surveyed thought it was at least somewhat important to live in a place with free speech and a free press.

But the most arresting free speech trend in the United States—and one of particular interest to FIRE—is the finding that a large percentage of millennials—adults aged 18–34—want the government to restrict certain types of speech that is protected by the First Amendment. A whopping 40 percent of millennials think the government should be able to punish speech that is offensive to minority groups. Tolerance of censorship is significantly more widespread among younger Americans than among older generations: Only 12 percent of the Silent generation (70–87 year-olds), 24 percent of the Boomer generation (51–69 year-olds), and 27 percent of Gen Xers (35–50 year-olds) think the government should be able to restrict speech that offends minorities.

The trend of Millennials favoring more restrictions on speech has been documented in another recent study as well. Last month, Yale University’s William F. Buckley, Jr. Program released a survey on U.S. college students’ attitudes towards free speech on campus that found that 51 percent of college students favor speech codes.