Young Americans More Supportive of Cancel Culture, Also More Afraid of It

Young people are much more fearful of cancel culture than older Americans, but they are also more supportive of it, according to a new report by the Manhattan Institute's Eric Kaufmann that surveys public attitudes toward various culture war items like critical race theory, free speech on college campuses, and diversity training.

When analyzing polling data from a variety of surveys, Kaufmann found that 45 percent of working people under the age of 30 were afraid of losing their jobs because "someone misunderstands something you have said or done, takes it out of context, or posts something from your past online"—i.e., the kind of social sanction typically described as cancel culture. Among Americans 55 and older, just 29 percent had this same fear.

But if younger millennials and members of Gen Z have more to fear from cancel culture, they are also much more willing to say that they accept these terms.