U.S. Census undercounted Black people, Latinos, Native Americans, officials say

[OneCrazyDiamond]

Source: Reuters

March 10 (Reuters) - Black people, Latinos and Native Americans were undercounted during the 2020 national census, new U.S. Census Bureau data showed, potentially affecting political representation and federal funding for communities with significant minority populations.

The once-a-decade national population count is used to draw both U.S. congressional and state legislative seats in each state, as well as to help distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds for everything from public housing to Medicare to highway construction.
Thursday's report from the Census Bureau relied on statistical analyses to test the accuracy of the census results.

For decades, the census has overcounted white people while undercounting people of color, but those trends accelerated during the 2020 census, the report showed.

The census count of the Latino population was likely 5% too low, more than three times the undercount estimated for the 2010 census, the bureau said. More than 3% of Black people were not included, while Native Americans and Native Alaskans on reservations were undercounted by more than 5%, both worse than in 2010.
Non-Hispanic white people and Asians were overcounted, the bureau said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-census-undercounted-black-people-latinos-native-americans-officials-say-2022-03-10/

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California should get more Reps.

[hlthe2b]

1. No doubt. This was in the cards from the beginning under Trump

[Faux pas]

2. Kickin' with disgust!

[patphil]

3. Is there any recourse for this? Can adjustments be made to the official results?

Or are we stuck with these faulty results for 10 years?

[Baitball Blogger]

4. No surprise there.

As long as they can still vote, hopefully they can slowdown the Republican agenda.

[mopinko]

5. we really should just dump that census.

or at least resample enough areas to figure out, statistically, who was undercounted, and by how much, and adjust accordingly. i can hear the loons howling as i type this, but it's what needs to be done.
the numbers are hopelessly corrupt, tho, if you ask me.

[llashram]

6. noooo...

that never happens...

[treestar]

7. The article does not contain anything to support the conclusions

At least, the article does not.

A couple of vague suggestions like Latino people might have not wanted to respond due to TFG's unsuccessful attempt to get a citizenship question included.

Like having to vote, you have to answer your census.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. From the excerpt, this supports the title conclusion that they were undercounted

The census count of the Latino population was likely 5% too low, more than three times the undercount estimated for the 2010 census, the bureau said. More than 3% of Black people were not included, while Native Americans and Native Alaskans on reservations were undercounted by more than 5%, both worse than in 2010.
Non-Hispanic white people and Asians were overcounted, the bureau said.

[treestar]

13. Those are conclusions

Wouldn’t they know why they were undercounted and if they can say that is true then just add them in.

[JudyM]

10. It was a validation survey

From NPR’s piece on it:

The 2020 census had big undercounts of Black people, Latinos and Native Americans
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/10/1083732104/2020-census-accuracy-undercount-overcount-data-quality

Disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic and interference by former President Donald Trump's administration raised alarms about the increased risk of the once-a-decade tally missing swaths of the country's population. COVID-19 also caused multiple delays to the bureau's Post-Enumeration Survey that's used to determine how accurate the census results are and inform planning for the next national count in 2030.

(emphasis added)

And surprise, surprise:

People who identified as white and not Latino were overcounted at almost double the rate in 2010. Asian Americans were also overcounted.

[treestar]

14. What were the mechanics ix

Of how it happened ? Just believing it because we think so or want to think so does not prove it. And if they figured it out, corrections can be made.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Goal of tRump, Ross & all their White Supremacist Cabal. . . . nt

[yardwork]

11. Mission accomplished.

[LiberalFighter]

12. Trump and his Census director should be criminally charged.

[PatrickforB]

15. In the way-back-when, I took a journalism class in undergrad school.

At that time, we were supposed to make sure our stories had who, what, where, when, how and why.

The 'why' is missing in this Reuters article. The why is that Trump and his minions repeatedly tried to sabotage the 2020 Census, and pack the Bureau with fanatical supporters. Two senior Census officials actually resigned over it.

Here is a link from the Center for Public Integrity and Vox: https://publicintegrity.org/politics/system-failure/trump-obstruction-of-2020-census/ that explains the sabotage more fully. I am a data guy and I knew this, so I called my US Congressional delegation members (Rep and Senators) repeatedly about the issue.

Millions of people depend on accurate Census data - people, state and local governments, higher education, businesses, economic developers, chambers of commerce. We are only as good as our data, and the Republican penchant for denying, suppressing, or changing data so it says what they want it to say is really bad, really damaging.

For everybody.