Pew: Growing number of U.S. residents aware of 2020 census

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Over the past two months, increasing numbers of U.S. residents have grown aware that the once-a-decade head count of the nation is taking place, with blacks more likely than whites and older people more likely than younger ones to have heard something about the 2020 census, according to a new survey released Monday.

Between early January and early March, those who had seen or heard something about the census grew from half to two-thirds of respondents, the Pew Research Center survey found.

The Pew Research Center conducted two surveys, one in early January and another in late February and early March. In between the two surveys, the U.S. Census Bureau launched a $500 million outreach campaign to convince U.S. residents to participate in the head count, and about half of the money was devoted to a media campaign that will pay for more than 1,000 ads.

Those who definitely or probably will participate in the 2020 census went from 78% to 80%, and those who are most enthusiastic — saying they definitely will participate in the census — went from 55% to 59% during that time, according to the latest Pew survey.

The head count started in late January in rural, native villages in Alaska, but the rest of the country wasn't able to start answering the questionnaire until the second week of March. The coronavirus crisis pushed back the deadline for finishing the 2020 census from late-July to mid-August and forced the suspension of field operations for a month from mid-March to mid-April.

Of those who have heard something recently about the census, 70% said some of that information came from advertising and 61% said it came from the news. More than a quarter of respondents heard about the census from the social media posts of people they know, the survey said.

The survey indicated that the media blitz is penetrating some racial and ethnic groups more than others. Hispanic respondents were more likely than white or blacks to say that information on the census they saw or heard came from an ad, the news or social media, according to the survey.

The latest Pew survey of 3,456 U.S. adults was conducted from Feb. 25 to March 9, right before fears of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. took off. At the start of that time-frame, the CDC reported the first U.S. patient who had gotten the virus from an unknown origin and the end of that time frame was just two days before President Donald Trump announced he was restricting travel from Europe to the U.S. for 30 days in an effort to slow the virus's spread. The questioning of survey participants also finished more than a week before governors of several states started issuing stay-at-home orders.

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