Can you clarify which Red Scare you are asking about? The First Red Scare related to Bolshevism and Anarchism from roughly 1916-1921 or the second Red Scare related to Communism in the late 1940s and early 1950s?

If you are talking the Second Red Scare, I would encourage you to turn to the archives of Major daily newspapers in different regions of the nation. This was often front page news. These papers’ editorial pages will also tell you in all likelihood, some reflection of how their community felt about it.

To learn if Americans were afraid or apathetic, primary sources are key, and the best primary source on this one is newspapers.

Speaking to my state, it varied by region. Reactions in Austin were different from Dallas.

There are also two radio shows that were funded by HL Hunt, Life Line and Facts Forum. They were virulently anti-communist. An archive of Facts Forum News, a companion to the radio program, is digitized at the University of Houston.

Facts Forum and Life Line broadcasts (if they can be found) and FFN issues would certainly give you some peak in to this from the most vocal anti-communist perspectives. It may contain info on articles more mainstream publications did that included man on the street views of communism.

The journals of your state legislature will also tell an interesting story. Find out when major anti communist bills like teacher oaths came up, and see what statements were inserted in the journals and also what statements were made in the press.