BLOG POST: A glimmer of hope for the census, but many challenges still to overcome
from Arturo Vargas
With the ya es hora ¡HAGASE CONTAR! effort now in full swing, I hope you’re seeing campaign PSAs in rotation, events being organized across the country, and are helping ensure all Latinos are counted. We’re also excited to see the Census Bureau advertisements on the air, and the campaigns of others pushing for a full count are gathering momentum, including LCCR, the AAJC, LCCR Education Fund, NAACP, the Urban League, Voto Latino, MALDEF, the National Congress of American Indians, APALC, and many others.
However, even with the gathering excitement for the Census – as of writing, only 60 days remained until Census Day – the release of two Census polls last week show that we still have to do to ensure our community is aware of the Census, knows why it’s important, and feels safe participating.
The first of these polls, conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, was released on January 20. One of the findings from the poll was fairly positive – of the 130 Latino respondents, 72% agreed that the Census is “very” important to our country. Among white non-Latinos, 57% agreed with the statement.
However, other findings were far less than positive...