Hard-to-Count Groups Hesitant to Respond to 2020 Census
Researchers at the Urban Institute collected responses from adults around the United States to better understand people’s intent to complete the 2020 Census. Specifically, the study sought to understand how the citizenship status question, proposed in 2018 and blocked by the Supreme Court in 2019, contributes to hesitation by immigrants and hard-to-count groups when considering completing the census. Although the question will not be included, the survey found that nearly 70 percent of adults still believed that the census questionnaire will ask about the citizenship status of members of their household. The study also found that 40 percent of non-white and Hispanic adults and adults in immigrant families were extremely or very concerned about how their census responses will be used or shared. Additionally, nearly 30 percent of respondents believed that it is very likely or extremely likely that census responses will be used to locate undocumented people living in the United States.