Americans are OK with criticizing public figures — but timing matters, poll finds
Most Americans are comfortable criticizing public figures — as long as they’re still living or long-dead, according to a new YouGov survey. However, support wanes for admonishing recently deceased figures, especially among Republicans.
The poll, conducted Sept. 16, comes less than one week after Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed at Utah Valley University.
The assassination sparked a range of reactions online, with many users offering heartfelt condolences to Kirk’s family, while others cheered the demise of a perceived political opponent. Those in the latter camp have been singled out by members of President Donald Trump’s administration.
On Sept. 15, Vice President JD Vance said people who “see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder” should “call them out,” adding, “Hell, call their employer.” The same day, Attorney General Pam Bondi said “there’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech — and there’s no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society.”
These comments have earned pushback, including from some conservatives.
On Sept. 16, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, wrote on X, “‘Hate speech’ is a term used by those in power to describe thoughts they don’t want spoken. It’s antithetical to the First Amendment.” In that vein, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed.”
Criticizing public figures
The poll — which sampled 9,040 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 1.3 percentage points — asked respondents when they believed it was permissible to castigate public figures.
The vast majority, 66%, said it is acceptable to criticize “living public figures,” while just 16% said this is unacceptable. Most Democrats (75%), independents (64%) and Republicans (61%) said this is acceptable.
A smaller majority, 52%, said they believed it is appropriate to censure “a public figure who has been dead for some time.” Meanwhile, 29% said this is unacceptable. While most Democrats (64%) and independents (51%) said this is permissible, less than half of Republicans (42%) said the same.
In contrast, less than half of respondents said it is appropriate to castigate recently deceased high profile individuals.
Forty-two percent said it is acceptable to criticize “a public figure who just died of natural causes,” while 38% said this is unacceptable. Most Democrats (55%) described this as permissible, while smaller shares of independents (44%) and Republicans (29%) said the same.
Finally, a plurality of respondents, 48%, said it is wrong to “criticize a public figure who was just killed.” Just 35% said this is acceptable. Here, again, most Democrats (53%) were on board, while fewer independents (36%) and Republicans (17%) agreed.
This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Americans are OK with criticizing public figures — but timing matters, poll finds."