Word: census
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Once the actual survey begins, the most controversial census issue is sure to be accuracy, just as it has been since George Washington's day (see box). In 1970, according to postcensus samplings, an estimated 2.5% of the population was missed. While this would be a tolerable margin of error if it affected all segments of the nation equally, the so-called undercount rate for blacks was 7.7%, while for whites it was only...
...past, some census takers have hesitated to venture deep into the crowded, big-city neighborhoods in which a significant portion of the minority population lives. According to Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's black mayor, his city has been "cheated out of $11.7 million in federal aid and almost 6,000 jobs" because of the 1970 undercount. Congressional experts estimate that each person overlooked by the census could cost a state as much as $200 in funds from Washington...
Because they fear discovery and deportation, illegal aliens are understandably reluctant to cooperate with any Government program. Because so little is known about them, estimates of their population range from 3 million to 12 million. Although the census does not ask if the respondent is in the country legally, the long form does require foreign-born persons to state when they entered the U.S. From such information, the Immigration and Naturalization Service probably could uncover great numbers of the illegals. To overcome the illegals' fear of the census, the bureau insists that no one but sworn census workers will...
Because an accurate count could lead to increased federal aid, minority leaders generally have been enthusiastically backing the census effort. Creek Indian Leader Steadham has been traveling for the Census Bureau through Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee to meet with groups of Indians and explain how the forms must be filled out. Coleman Young, Detroit's black mayor, is appearing in TV ads in that city to reassure his fellow citizens that they have nothing to fear from the survey...
...minority leaders and big-city mayors fear that this will not be enough to avoid a sizable undercount. They complain that the Census Bureau, which has been consulting them, has not followed enough of their advice...