Likely voters support bank-level security standards, shared responsibility for protection costs, and explicit consumer consent under CFPB Section 1033 reform

ATLANTA, GA – The Trafalgar Group released a new poll today showing that President Trump’s strongest supporters are the driving force behind calls for financial data privacy reform, while core safeguards also draw broad support from likely voters across the political spectrum.

The survey of 1,065 likely general election voters was conducted on behalf of the Common Sense Leadership Fund from April 21 to April 26 and has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. The poll tested voter support for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau strengthening safeguards, requiring clear consumer consent and ensuring shared responsibility for data security when financial technology companies access sensitive financial information under Section 1033 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

“Our results show President Trump’s supporters are not asking Washington to leave sensitive banking data exposed to a weaker, two-tiered system,” said Robert Cahaly, CEO of The Trafalgar Group. “Consumers don’t want to choose between data sharing and data security. They are telling the CFPB to finish the rewrite with bank-level security for every company that touches the data. Voters want clear permission and clear limits and real accountability from the firms that access the data. What is especially important is that this starts with the president’s own base and extends well beyond it. One hundred percent of strong Trump approvers support bank-level standards, and large majorities of voters who disapprove of him support key reforms as well. That is a rare opening for a Trump-aligned consumer protection win with bipartisan voter support.”

The clearest finding is that voters want one strong security standard for every company that touches consumer financial data. 100 percent of respondents who strongly approve of President Trump support requiring any company that accesses financial data to meet the same security standards as banks. 89.4 percent of all respondents agreed.

The same pattern appears on the question of who should help pay to protect consumer data. Overall, 85.6 percent of respondents said companies that access or use financial data should help fund the ecosystem needed to keep that data safe.

Voters also support clear limits on how financial data can be accessed and used. Overall, 78.2 percent of respondents favored rules preventing companies from having unlimited access to financial information without explicit and revocable consumer consent. Among respondents who strongly approve of President Trump, support reached 92.1 percent. Even among Trump opponents, support remained significant, including 56.9 percent of respondents who disapprove of him and 68.7 percent who strongly disapprove.

The poll also found broad concern with the Biden-era approach to Section 1033 when respondents were told it allowed data middlemen to follow weaker privacy and security standards than banks. Among respondents who strongly approve of President Trump, 99.4 percent said they were concerned. Across the full electorate, 62.9 percent said they were very concerned or concerned, and 73.9 percent were at least somewhat concerned.

The findings come as the CFPB reconsiders the Section 1033 rule governing access to consumers’ personal financial data. The data indicate that a rule built around bank-level security standards, explicit and revocable consumer consent, and shared responsibility for ecosystem costs would align with President Trump’s base while also addressing concerns held by a broader electorate.

To read the full survey findings, click here.

About The Trafalgar Group

The Trafalgar Group is a market and public opinion research firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, and the nation’s most consistently accurate private polling firm in America over the last 10 years. In 2016, Trafalgar gained national prominence by being the only polling firm to predict a Trump victory with an electoral college total in excess of 300. Trafalgar provides expertise and analysis to clients including corporations, law firms, commodity traders, partisan organizations, political action committees, issue advocacy groups, and high-net-worth individuals. The Trafalgar Group is known for their unique ability to minimize the effects of the “social desirability bias, “revealing the genuine consumer and voter opinions that most firms miss.

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