Elizabeth Laird

In other words, that people may not access benefits that they're otherwise entitled to.

And so we asked the American people, if you weren't sure what was going to happen with your data, how would that affect your signing up for benefits?

And nearly half said that they would not sign up for benefits.

This is not just a hypothetical or theoretical risk.

This actually will result in a society that is less educated, less healthy, more unhoused.

These are real-life implications of that.

And then the other one that we've heard a lot about in the past year is not all recipients of this information are the same.

There's been a ton of coverage and discussion about how personal data can be used to support immigration enforcement, for example.

And that is something that the majority of the American people are concerned about.

So they are worried about their personal data being shared with law enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security.

I think we've all heard your trust in government right now is at its lowest it's been in decades.

And so I think this is, you know, giving the American people another reason to not trust their elected officials and their public servants.

I will say something else that came through clearly in our research is that the American people want government to be held accountable.

And again, that is consistent across political affiliation, across race and ethnicity, across a variety of different groups of people who these days feel like they don't agree on anything.

But one thing that they agreed on is that Congress should be conducting oversight and they should be holding agencies accountable when they are potentially misusing people's data.

And so I think even though there certainly was a feeling of helplessness that came through in our survey, I think even stronger than that was a call for action.