An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether a citizenship question should be included on the Census questionnaire could depress the population count in Florida as much as anywhere.
Yet state officials are among those pushing hardest for it to be included.
President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross added the question, which would ask every person if they are a citizen of the United States. The Census Bureau and independent researchers say that doing so, especially during an immigrant-unfriendly presidency, will discourage many Americans from responding.
Any effects the question has will bear out in Florida as much as anywhere. One in every 11 Floridians is a noncitizen (according to the Census Bureau’s own American Community Survey, which does ask about citizenship).
If, as the bureau estimates, nearly 6 percent of them decline to respond to the Census as a result of the citizenship question, that total would easily eclipse 100,000 people.
Getting fewer responses would cost more money and work in trying to find and count people. Ultimately, it would lead to some people never being counted at all. Tax dollars, grant funding, jobs programs and political representation all rely on population counts in certain geographic areas.
