Majority of Americans agree that books should not be censored

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ALMOST THREE-QUARTERS OF AMERICANS DON’T BELIEVE THERE SHOULD BE CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS, ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH.

THE SURVEY OF 2,000 REVEALED 73% ARE OPPOSED TO BANNING BOOKS — AND 43% HAVE SOUGHT OUT CHALLENGED OR BANNED BOOKS TO READ IN 2022.

COMMISSIONED BY HALF PRICE BOOKS AND CONDUCTED BY ONEPOLL, THE SURVEY LOOKED BEYOND BANNED AND CHALLENGED BOOKS AND DELVED INTO RESPONDENTS’ OVERALL READING HABITS FOR 2022. 

ON AVERAGE, RESPONDENTS SAY 35% OF THE BOOKS ON THEIR SHELVES ARE UNREAD.

THE AVERAGE RESPONDENT READ TWO AND A HALF BOOKS PER MONTH — AND ONLY 9% OF AMERICANS SURVEYED DIDN’T READ A SINGLE BOOK OVER THE COURSE OF THE YEAR.

WHEN GIVEN A LIST OF SOME OF THE MOST COMMONLY BANNED BOOKS, WHICH HAVE RESPONDENTS READ?

• “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee — 31%
• “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll — 29%
• “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak — 28%
• “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck — 26%
• “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank — 26%
• “Harry Potter” by J.K. Rowling — 25%  
• “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London — 25%
• “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl — 24%
• “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood — 23%
• “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou — 23%

BEST-SELLING BOOKS THAT RESPONDENTS READ IN 2022

• “Run, Rose, Run” by Dolly Parton and James Patterson — 24%
• “Fairy Tale” by Stephen King — 23%
• “Nightwork” by Nora Roberts — 22%
• “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens — 22%
• “Call Us What We Carry” by Amanda Gorman — 22%
• “The Hotel Nantucket” by Elin Hilderbrand — 21%
• “It Starts with Us” by Colleen Hoover — 21%
• “The Judge's List” by John Grisham — 21%
• “House of Sky and Breath” by Sarah J. Maas — 21%
• “The Paris Apartment” by Lucy Foley — 21%

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was commissioned by Half Price Books between Nov. 18–21, 2022. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).