'A perfect storm': US census imperiled by Trump rhetoric and growing distrust

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

'A perfect storm': US census imperiled by Trump rhetoric and growing distrust

Immigrant communities fear they cannot trust the process while 24 states haven’t allocated money towards census, risking an undercount of millions

Sam Levine and Madeleine Gregory
Wed 22 Jan 2020 11.00 GMT
Last modified on Wed 22 Jan 2020 11.03 GMT

In the summer of 2018, Alejandro Tobon worked as a census-taker in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, helping conduct a test run for the 2020 census, the decennial survey that aims to count every living person in America. Tobon, 39, wore an official badge but tried to make himself less intimidating – some days wearing shorts, riding his bike, or even his skateboard.

He told people the information they provided was confidential according to federal law, and at times spoke to non-English speakers in Spanish to make them feel more at ease.

But it didn’t really work. One afternoon, he said, a mother quickly gathered her children and went inside when he approached her family during a picnic in the yard. He began to suspect that people were fleeing inside when they heard he was nearby. Many refused to give him all the information he needed for the survey.

There’s deep concern that what Tobon experienced will play out across the country this spring when the government undertakes the real national census. Advocates fear Donald Trump has poisoned the process with virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that have made minority groups distrustful of turning over their information.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/22/us-census-trump-rhetoric-distrust-undercount

[lark]

1. Impotus3 can do nothing right - never, ever.

All he does is evil and hurtful to this country and the majority of its' people. Here, he will break the constitution again, and will blame it on Democrats when it's the repug run states that are the unlawful, destructive ones.

[Igel]

2. My neighbors acted the same way last census.

Didn't return form, didn't answer the door.

They finally asked me for the minimum information--how many people and their ages and sex.

[Skittles]

3. in other words

it is working exactly as repukes intended