The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) released new polling data today that revealed the majority of Americans, 74%, are concerned about the privacy and security of personal data held by government agencies.
The findings come from a nationally representative omnibus survey of 1,008 U.S. adults, according to the research report.
CDT said the concerns cut across demographic groups, including political affiliation, geography, and race and ethnicity. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization framed the results against what it called a broader federal push to access and consolidate sensitive personal information held by federal and state agencies.
“In a time of historic polarization, our research shows that Americans still agree on one thing: they are deeply concerned about what the government knows about them and how that power could be misused,” CDT President and CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens said in a press release.
“These polling results should be a wake-up call to federal and state governments. People from all walks of life are paying attention, and want to hold elected officials and agency leaders accountable for handling their personal data with care,” Givens said.
In a press briefing with reporters ahead of the report’s release, Elizabeth Laird, the director of the Equity in Civic Technology Project at CDT, said the findings are distinct because government data practices can have direct, real-world consequences for people’s daily lives.
She said agencies do not just hold sensitive information, but also have the power “to surveil and track people” and control access to benefits and services.
According to the report, 73% of Americans agree that without privacy laws, it is likely that government agencies would use personal data to track and monitor anyone they want to.
Forty-four percent of Americans agree that if they were eligible to receive government benefits, they would not sign up for those benefits if they were unsure how the government would use their personal data.
“People want their privacy protected, and bipartisan majorities want their elected leaders to do something about it. Lawmakers who ignore privacy are significantly out of step with their constituents,” Laird said in the press release.
Seventy-nine percent of Americans agree that Congress should use its authority to hold the government accountable when it ignores existing privacy laws.
To press for action, CDT organized a coalition of 22 organizations and individuals to back a letter urging Congress to investigate how public agencies handle personal data and to use its oversight authority as lawmakers consider privacy and security protections.
The coalition letter has been signed by civil rights, education, research, and public interest organizations such as the American Association of School Librarians, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, Data Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen, and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
The findings land as lawmakers continue to debate updates to federal privacy frameworks. Last month, Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., released a report outlining a bipartisan framework to modernize the Privacy Act of 1974, including recommendations to tighten limits on the collection, use, and sharing of sensitive personal data.
“Americans should be able to trust that their personal information is handled responsibly by their government,” Trahan said at the time.