# Why Federal Statistics Matter: Rob Santos on Trust, Data Integrity, and the Future of the Census

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/why-federal-statistics-matter-rob-santos-on-trust-data-integrity-and-the-future-of-the-census
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/why-federal-statistics-matter-rob-santos-on-trust-data-integrity-and-the-future-of-the-census.md
Podcast: [The PolicyViz Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919)
Published: 2025-12-19T05:10:00+00:00
Episode link: https://zencastr.com/z/Dr9gYG37
Audio file: https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/6941ba5cd9b7c673f562c200/size/65588129/audio-files/5a0b59c06ebaa2000f259f8d/9c863caa-d32e-4d5e-b7cb-f5427cc45b39.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/episodes/why-federal-statistics-matter-rob-santos-on-trust-data-integrity-and-the-future-of-the-census
Duration seconds: 2665

## Resource

This is the final episode of 2026! I hope you have enjoyed the show this year and also hope you have a great holiday season and happy new year. In this episode, I sit down with former Census Bureau Director Rob Santos to talk about the state of federal statistics, what's threatening the quality and independence of federal data, and why surveys like the American Community Survey and decennial census matter more than ever. We dig into how census data are collected, how political appointees interact with career staff, and why attempts to limit data collection or redefine who gets counted can undermine everything from policy to local decision-making. Rob also reflects on his approach to diversity, communication, and public engagement while leading the Census Bureau. We close by looking ahead at what modernization should look like for federal statistical agencies in the years to come. Keywords: Census Bureau, federal data, Rob Santos, statistical agencies, data quality, survey response rates, American Community Survey, decennial census, federal statistics, data integrity, data collection, public trust, policy data, government surveys, uncertainty communication, demographic data, administrative data, data modernization Subscribe to the PolicyViz Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Become a patron of the PolicyViz Podcast [https://patreon.com/policyviz?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for as little as a buck a month Follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jschwabish/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanschwabish/], Substack [https://jschwabish.substack.com/], Twitter [https://twitter.com/jschwabish], Website [https://policyviz.com/], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/JonSchwabish]…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/episodes/why-federal-statistics-matter-rob-santos-on-trust-data-integrity-and-the-future-of-the-census/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/why-federal-statistics-matter-rob-santos-on-trust-data-integrity-and-the-future-of-the-census.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.