The U.S. census is coming up before we know it. And just like the country is changing, the census is also getting ready to change.
One key change set to take place with the 2020 census: The questionnaire will ask about the citizenship status of census respondents.
That is, it will ask whether they are legal citizens of the U.S. or not. That type of issue has not been on the census since all the way back in 1950. Citizenship status has obviously been a big issue in recent years, especially ever since President Trump talked about it regularly during his campaign.
It’s definitely valuable for the federal government to know not just how many people are in each city and household, but also how many of those people are citizens and how many aren’t. The census has historically also asked other questions about demographics, such as about household members’ race, gender and so on.
Although it might be a good idea to ask about citizenship status on the census, there are some challenges with that. For example, will people who are not citizens and who are not in the country legally even want to answer the census? If they don’t, the idea of even having the question on the census in the first place will backfire and be of no use.
It would be interesting indeed to know what the government plans to do with the information they gather regarding the citizenship status of people who are residing on U.S. soil.
