Latinos and the 2010 Census: Census Participation Messages and Views of the Census

• Activity Number: 61
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 31, 2011 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics
• Author(s): Mark Hugo Lopez*+
• Companies: Pew Hispanic Center
• Keywords: Latinos ; Messaging ; Hispanics

Abstract

From March 16 to 25, 2010 the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, conducted a nationwide survey of 1,003 Latino adults exploring attitudes and knowledge of the census and whether they saw messages encouraging participation in the census. The timing of the survey coincided with the arrival of 2010 Census forms in the mailboxes of most U.S. households beginning March 15. According to the survey, nearly half (48%) of all Latinos said they saw or heard something from an organization encouraging them to fill out their census form. This paper explores how messages encouraging participation in the census are associated with knowledge about the census, the uses of the census and self-reported participation in the census. Overall, preliminary analyses suggest that outreach efforts appear to have improved attitudes toward the census among Hispanics. Among those who say they saw messages encouraging participation, views of the census were more positive; knowledge of the census and its uses was greater; and a higher share said they definitely planed to send in their census forms.