NORC’s David Dutwin on How Americans Use and Think about Federal Statistics

The latest episode of Data for the People! features David Dutwin, Executive Director and Senior Vice President of AmeriSpeak, a panel-based research platform from NORC at the University of Chicago. Dutwin joins the show to discuss Americans’ trust in federal statistics, science, institutions, and one another. 

In December 2025, the American Statistical Association (ASA) released a report about the health of federal statistics, which included analyses of survey panel data from AmeriSpeak on public perceptions and use of federal data. 

According to the survey, only 23 percent of U.S. adults report having ever used federal data. Even fewer (14 percent) have cited facts or figures from a federal statistics report or (13 percent) have used individual statistics, tables, and/or maps.

"I think a lot of people don't realize the ubiquity of federal data,” Dutwin says on the episode. He notes that the federal government monitors changes in crime, educational attainment, health conditions, and more. “Society can't really function without this kind of information,” he says. 

The survey findings may suggest a gap between Americans who are passively informed by federal statistics and those who actively and intentionally use the data. "If you're watching TV and you see a statistic that X percent of the U.S. population has asthma — well, that probably came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,” Dutwin explains. “Are they using the data? I don't know. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. But they did get exposed to it."

Frequent Data Users More Likely to Trust Government Data 

The AmeriSpeak Panel findings for ASA highlighted differences between U.S. adults overall and frequent users of federal data, defined as those who use federal data at least on a quarterly basis. Frequent data users were more likely than U.S. adults overall to agree or strongly agree that: 

• statistics provided by federal agencies are generally accurate,
• policymakers need federal statistics to make good decisions,
• businesses need federal statistics to make good decisions,
• people can trust federal statistical agencies to keep information about them confidential,
• federal statistical agencies generally respect people’s privacy, and
• the government should combine data from different agencies to inform decision-making as long as individuals’ information is kept strictly confidential.

On the findings about people’s trust in government to respect people’s privacy and keep information confidential, “that makes perfect sense to me,” Dutwin says. As a researcher who works with federal data, he’s seen firsthand the security measures that limit what information can be accessed and where it can be accessed, not to mention the ongoing refreshment courses required by the federal government to ensure contractors know how to protect federal data. 

“Someone who works in the system knows just how much effort goes into protections of confidentiality,” he says, “whereas a layperson really probably has no idea just how much time is spent making sure their data is protected.”

Low Public Trust in Federal Statistics—and Science and Institutions and People

The AmeriSpeak Panel survey for ASA found that only 37 percent of U.S. adults overall agreed or strongly agreed that statistics provided by federal agencies are generally accurate. Dutwin put the statistic in the broader context of long-term declines in public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress, banks, big business, public schools, science, and even people in general. 

“So there's just this big movement in American society to be a lot more mistrustful than we were in the past,” Dutwin says. 

Taking Surveys to Guide Better Policies and Decisions 

People’s mistrust of institutions, including federal statistical agencies, might make them less likely to participate in surveys. Indeed, the survey field has struggled for years with declining response rates, possibly for a wide range of reasons, including declining trust, the shift from landlines to cell phones, and the higher volume of online and text surveys from public and private sources alike. At the same time, policymakers and business leaders might make decisions more aligned with public opinion if they had greater confidence in the signals they received from surveys. 

Either way, Dutwin believes more Americans should participate in surveys. 

“There's almost nothing more American than taking a survey,” Dutwin says on the episode. “As Americans, we love to tell people what we think, and yet then when you get called to be asked about what you think, people are proverbially 'hanging up.'”

He continues: "Surveys are ubiquitous in society today, and they're ubiquitous not because they're fun or interesting, but because they provide unbelievable insight. They have helped our society create better policies, [and enable] better decision making.” 

Next time listeners receive a phone call or letter inviting them to participate in a survey, Dutwin urges them to resist the urge to decline and reframe the request as “an opportunity, not an inconvenience.”

Dutwin’s Nomination for the People’s Data 100

The episode with Dutwin published a few days before the February 28 deadline to nominate federal datasets that provide the greatest value to Americans as part of the People’s Data 100, an initiative of the Data Foundation. Dutwin says he would nominate the General Social Survey (GSS), a federally funded survey tracking American attitudes, values, and social trends since 1972. In contrast to other studies that provide vital statistics on the economy, health, education, and crime, Dutwin says the GSS takes the pulse on “who we are as a people,” shedding light on trends in religious tolerance, altruism, and other topics.

“The GSS is kind of a mirror into the soul of Americans,” he says, “and that's why I love it so much.”

Nominate a federal dataset for the People's Data 100

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