60 Percent of Americans Don’t Trust Gov’t with their ‘personal info’
WASHINGTON D.C. (Worthy News)– Nearly 60 percent of Americans don’t trust the federal government to handle their personal information, however the results differed greatly depending on your political views, according to a Harris Poll.
Harris finds that 60 percent of Americans don’t trust the federal government to handle personal information confidentially and securely – a sentiment that has grown by eight percentage points in the past year alone. The number was just over half five years ago.
“Americans have also grown more mistrustful of state and local governments in this regard from 44 percent in 2009 to 54 percent this year,” he says.
There’s a partisan divide here, though.
“Americans’ attitudes toward the government tend to fluctuate greatly along political lines, and this issue is no different: majorities of Republicans and Independents don’t trust either the federal government (71 percent Republicans, 66 percent independents) or state and local governments (60 percent and 61 percent , respectively) to handle their personally identified information in a properly confidential and secure manner,” the poll states.
“On the other hand, majorities of Democrats do trust both the federal government (56 percent) and state/local governments (60 percent) to do so.” — Source