Census Citizenship Question Backfires for Left-Leaning Poll
President Donald Trump has sought to add a question regarding United States citizenship to the 2020 census, a question that had been asked in some form or fashion in virtually all of the nation’s censuses until it was removed in 2010 by former President Barack Obama.
One would think a simple question about citizenship would be a non-issue. However, Democrats and the media have outrageously imbued racial motivations and overtones to the effort. Further, leftist advocacy groups have waged legal warfare against the effort, working to stop it from being added to next year’s questionnaire.
However, it would appear that Democrats, leftist activists and the liberal media are fighting this fight without the support of the American people. Recent polls — particularly one with a decidedly leftward lean to it — show that the people overwhelming support returning the citizenship question to the 2020 census.
A poll by The Economist/YouGov conducted between June 30 and July 2 asked: “Do you think the federal government should or should not ask people whether they are American citizens as part of the 2020 census?”
A majority of 53 percent said the citizenship question should be asked, while only 32 percent said it should not and 14 percent said they weren’t sure one way or the other.
The poll did not provide a breakdown of how the various respondents replied to that particular question, however, a review of the other questions on the lengthy questionnaire suggests a majority of poll’s respondents are liberal-leaning Democrats.
Some of those questions included the overall approval and disapproval of President Trump, whether people approved or disapproved of how he was handling a plethora of issues, and whether they intended to vote for him in 2020.
The poll also asked questions about the Democratic candidates, whether people intended to vote in the Democratic primaries, and where respondents stood on hot-button issues like abortion and the current make-up of the Supreme Court, among other things.
Indeed, a question on political identity showed 42 percent ranged from “lean Democrat” to “strong Democrat” while only 36 percent classified themselves as Republicans and 16 percent said they were independents. That suggests that even among Democrats, there is support for the citizenship census question.
Meanwhile, The Washington Times reported on a poll conducted between June 26-29 by the Harvard University Center for American Political Studies/Harris asked about whether the citizenship question should be included in the 2020 census. Sixty-seven percent of registered voters replied in the affirmative.
That poll did provide a demographic breakdown of the response and showed that 88 percent of Republicans favored adding the citizenship question, as did 63 percent of independents and even a 52 percent majority of Democrats.
Perhaps even more incredible is how two major minority groups replied, given the steady drumbeat from the left about how bigoted and racist such a question is. Fifty-five percent of Hispanic voters agreed with adding the question, as did 59 percent of black voters.
The Times also noted that another poll conducted earlier in the month of June by Hill/HarrisX asked about the citizenship question and found that 60 percent of respondents were in favor of it being added to the 2020 census.
The overarching takeaway from these polls is that, despite what Democrats and the media may loudly proclaim to the contrary, a solid majority of the American people think it is worth knowing how many citizens and non-citizens currently reside in the country.
This proves, once again, that Democrats and the liberal media are way out of touch with the average American voter and, at least on this issue — if not numerous others — they are decidedly standing in the minority with little support to bolster them.
President Trump has made it abundantly clear that he fully intends to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census one way or another, and he undoubtedly knows very well that he has a significant portion of the American people on his side.
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