Latinos reply to census at a slower rate, figures show

Even amid the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide protests against racial bias and police brutality, more than 60% of Americans have responded to the 2020 census, a national count of the country’s population conducted every 10 years.

But in areas with large Latino populations, the self-response rate has lagged the national average, according to a data analysis by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund in partnership with NBC-Universal Telemundo Enterprises.

The analysis shows that less than 20% of Puerto Ricans have responded to the census, and self-response rates in Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, New York and Texas are lagging the rest of the country.

“We know that during the economic turmoil brought on by COVID-19, Census Bureau operational changes, and misinformation around the census, Latinos continue to have lower self-response rates than the general population,” NALEO Educational Fund CEO Arturo Vargas said in a statement.

To bring attention to this issue, NALEO hosted a “day of action” on Wednesday with NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and its local TV stations. They presented the data analysis during two virtual town halls in English and Spanish, as well as nationwide live phone banks to provide Latino communities information on the 2020 census.

NALEO and the polling firm Latino Decisions released a survey in February on some of Latinos’ worries and perceptions of the census. It found that most were worried that the Trump administration would use data against them.

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, blocked an effort by President Donald Trump last year to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.