# Questions about Trump's proposed new Census **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 7, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823 "2025-08-07T17:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/41 "2025-08-08T01:20:20Z")
No neighbors. Folks don’t talk down here. It’s the heartland of “get off the place” mentality. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/42 "2025-08-08T01:23:34Z")
Then constant visits, no peace, and certainly no mailing in the info…although you _would_ got many official flyers taped to your door telling you if your legal obligation to participate. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/43 "2025-08-08T01:24:20Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > It’s likely he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. NO! Say it ain’t so! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/44 "2025-08-08T01:26:21Z")
Is it also the heartland of few federal programs, funds and aid because there is no solid evidence that it is needed? That census information helps determine what funds go where ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/45 "2025-08-08T01:26:44Z")
Ok ok, I’ll fill the dang thing out. Come in sit down. Need an Ice Tea? TOMORROWS NEWS BLURB: Census worker is missing. ETA, I know the logic is sound. I realize funds are allocated thusly. I just think we’re in a different time. Different methods may be needed. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/46 "2025-08-08T01:30:04Z")
We were not allowed to come in and sit down…but even implying a threat to someone who works for the government is a great way to get arrested. Can we please drop the bluster? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/47 "2025-08-08T01:32:23Z")
I’m kidding you. Lighten up. I would never hurt anyone. Census worker, or any worker of any kind. I’m saying CWs may have a harder time now than in the past. Peeps is nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/48 "2025-08-08T01:44:13Z")
I was an Enumerator in 2020. I was hidden from, lied to, threatened, attacked, shot at etc., but kept getting sent to the same neighborhoods because The Government is stupid and/or doesn’t give a flying fuck about the safety of the people that work for it. “Lighten up” left town the second long week of work, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/49 "2025-08-08T01:53:25Z")
I’m very sorry you experienced that. Sounds awful. Do you think it will be worse now? I do. (I meant _lighten up,_ as don’t take every thing everyone says so personally. I did preface by saying this was as in a joke, way upthread No need to flag me, I’m leaving now) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/50 "2025-08-08T01:59:44Z")
It will be much worse now, because the people that would be willing to participate in this political farce of a census might be more than willing to fudge the data to get the desired results, and this time there will be no one to tell them to go back and do it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/51 "2025-08-08T02:31:30Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Why would I not be surprised if the “census” were to be conducted by ICE agents, who are authorized to take into custody for deportation anyone who cannot provide the proper papers? I would not be surprised if there is a false rumor to this effect to scare the wrong sort of people into not being counted. Or Trump’s motive may be different. Here’s how a census threat helps Trump: 1. It is another step in the authoritarian takeover of federal statistics. 2. Our GOP SCOTUS will be reluctant to stop more than a tiny proportion of Trump’s actions. So the more illegal rule-by-decree acts like this he can try, the more that he will get away with. 3. Since 2020, red states seem to be gaining in population more than blue states. So an early census would increase Trump’s chances of having a friendly House of Representatives, probably not at the next congressional election, but maybe if he is the veep staring in 2029. By similar logic, it could hurt the GOP starting in 2033, but that’s a bit too long term to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/52 "2025-08-08T02:50:04Z")
My friend Denise, who is a Canadian citizen married to a U.S. Army veteran, is already nervous enough about the possibility of being deported. Thankfully, their jobs are potentially portable and they do not have children, but they don’t want to move, but she’s probably REALLY concerned now, or she will be when she finds out about this. Was this in the part of the constitution that was “accidentally” deleted from the website a couple days ago? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/53 "2025-08-08T02:52:37Z")
I signed up to work in 2020, but I got stuck on one of the computer modules, and figured that this computer glitch meant I wasn’t supposed to do it. The one I got stuck on was where an actor answered the door with a baseball bat in his hand, and he said, “You so-and-sos, get off my property!” and several options regarding what to do. The answer was, of course, “Mark this property as hazardous, and leave.” I didn’t look all that hard, but I didn’t find it on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/54 "2025-08-08T03:23:07Z")
I did door-to-door canvassing of nonrespondents in 2010. I had one old grouch who refused to tell me anything, saying “I’m 70 years old and have never trusted anything the government does.” I wrote down “angry homeowner”, marked his race and gender by observation (white male, of course), the year of his birth (2010-70=1940). That was the bare minimum data we were told to collect. On the other hand, immigrant families were unfailingly polite and helpful. My favorite interaction was asking one immigrant mother about her origin, to which she responded “Cambodian”. Her 13-year old daughter then cheerfully piped up, “I’m Cambodian-Norwegian!” That still makes me smile. I think both of these interviews would be much more difficult in today’s environment. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/55 "2025-08-08T20:56:15Z")
[After Trump’s Demand for a ‘New’ Census, Commerce Department Signals Intent to Infer Citizenship Figures From Existing Data](https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/after-trumps-demand-for-a-new-census-commerce-department-signals-intent-to-infer-citizenship-figures-from-existing-data/) > [@](#): > > An unnamed spokesman for Commerce, which oversees the U.S. Census Bureau, responded to Democracy Docket’s request for comment late Thursday night. > > “The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the Census to better understand our robust Census data,” the spokesman wrote in an emailed statement. > > “We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” Perhaps needless to say, there is no possible way to “accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents.” An estimate could actually be worse than doing a census re-do where residents are asked if they are here illegally. It’s uncertain whether a census that tried to exclude undocumented person would exclude any more than were missed last time. It is more certain that a politicized census estimate of illegal residents, however defined, would increase red state representation – since that’s the reason Trump wants to do this, and he will fire federal statisticians who disagree.. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/56 "2025-08-08T23:50:57Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Perhaps needless to say, there is no possible way to “accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents.” Not that that matters. They’ll come up with the numbers that fit their narrative and need. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/57 "2025-08-09T09:39:23Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > They’ll come up with the numbers that fit their narrative and need. Which will mean that it’ll be promptly tied up in lawsuits as states that lose representation won’t take it lying down. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/58 "2025-08-09T15:56:56Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > After Trump’s Demand for a ‘New’ Census, Commerce Department Signals Intent to Infer Citizenship Figures From Existing Data I remember a back in 2000 the census bureau wanted to use statistical sampling techniques (backed up by real science that would have made the numbers much more accurate), but was [shot down](https://www.science.org/content/article/supreme-court-nixes-census-sampling-plan) by Republicans (who would prefer to leave poor and minorities under counted) and the supreme court. So if we are to follow precedent (ha ha) then there is no way this should pass constitutional muster. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823/59 "2025-08-09T16:27:59Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > So if we are to follow precedent (ha ha) then there is no way this should pass constitutional muster. More and more, this seems to mean less and less. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-trumps-proposed-new-census/1021823.md?page=2)