Census 2000 too nosey? Republicans criticize long-form questions

Some people complain the long-form census invades their privacy

March 31, 2000
Web posted at: 3:40 p.m. EST (2040 GMT)

In this story: Democrats say complaints politically motivated Congress signed off on questions Some college students don't realize they count Census secrets RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Do you have a shower? Does your toilet flush? How is your mental condition? Those are just some of the questions on the long version of Census 2000 that have some people complaining to their congressional delegations.

Republicans say they're hearing from people who say the questions on the long form are too nosey. But some Democrats say the GOP is just trying to discourage an accurate count, which typically benefits Democrats.

VIDEO Did you know the census can be filled out online? CNN's Rick Lockridge explains. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K An explanation of concerns with the long-form, from CNN's Carl Rochelle. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Ed Garsten goes to a college to find out why some students don't think they count. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD The census effect

There are 53 questions on the long form this year, down from 57 in 1990. By comparison, the shorter form has seven questions.

Among the long-form questions drawing ire is question 17, which asks about the respondent's physical, mental or emotional conditions. And question 39 asks whether the respondent has complete plumbing facilities: hot and cold water? A flush toilet? A bathtub or shower?

Why ask such questions? The Census Bureau says the information is necessary to determine which communities get federal funds for schools, fire protection and other services. Why answer them? It's required by law.

But presumptive GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush said Thursday he's not sure he would fill out the detailed version of the questionnaire, which goes to one in six of the country's 115 million households.

"We want as accurate a count as possible, but I can understand why people don't want to give over that information to the government," Bush said Thursday during a campaign stop in Milwaukee. "And if I have the long form, I'm not sure I would, either."

The Texas governor stopped short of advising people not to complete the form. But he said, "If they're worried about the government intruding into their personal lives, they ought to think about it."

Democrats say complaints politically motivated

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt chided Republicans in Congress for telling constituents to ignore questions they consider intrusive. He said their opposition was motivated by politics.

"The Republicans have been trying to frustrate this census from the beginning," said Gephardt. "They don't want more people counted because they think it serves their political purpose. That's a pretty shoddy reason to do what they're doing."

Gephardt said Democrats "haven't gotten criticism" about the form, though Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-South Dakota, said his office has been getting questions about it.

John Czwartacki, the spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, said that if Gephardt's not getting calls, "I think he's the only member of Congress who isn't."

Lott's office and at least two House Republicans said they had received a number of complaints in recent days about questions on census forms.

Reps. Nick Smith, R-Michigan, and Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, were specifically critical of the long-form questionnaire.

Earlier Thursday, Czwartacki said Lott has been heavily promoting the census in his state but was also suggesting to callers concerned about privacy to leave unanswered those questions they felt were intrusive.

Democrats have long supported incorporating a statistical method known as sampling to derive census numbers. Sampling would use the forms that are returned to estimate populations with traditionally low response rates, such as minority groups in cities. Republican lawmakers have opposed sampling, fearing it could force a redrawing of political boundary lines to their disadvantage.

Census director Kenneth Prewitt said the long form is an "essential tool" to help communities across the country.

Questions that some Republicans have labeled intrusive -- such as "How old is your home?" and "Are you a veteran?" -- are used to determine how local services are provided, Prewitt said.

Most members of Congress complaining about the census had a chance to offer suggestions when the form was being drafted two years ago.

Congress received a detailed list of the questions from the Census Bureau and had a chance to weigh in, said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee's census panel.

Maloney said that six months ago, Lott, R-Mississippi, and Sen. Jesse Helms, R-North Carolina, sought to require all recipients of the short form to state their marital status.

"You really cannot have it both ways, Senator Lott," Maloney said. "You can't say you want to add questions and then complain that there are too many questions."

College students may not be worried enough about protecting their privacy. In fact, many may be ignoring the census altogether -- and that has some city officials worried.

Apparently many college students don't consider their dorms and apartments their permanent homes and don't think they are required to fill out a census questionnaire. That ends up costing college towns lots of money.

In Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, home of Central Michigan University, officials are using everything from public service announcements to campus television shows to encourage students to fill out the survey.

Mt. Pleasant officials estimate an undercount of 2000 students in the 1990 census cost the city some $5 million in state and federal funds over the last ten years.

If Mt. Pleasant misses the mark by the same number of students this year, Mt. Pleasant would miss out on another $3.2 million.

City planner Tony Kulik said that money "would fix a lot of potholes, buy a lot of park improvements, provide a better life for the citizens of Mt. Pleasant and the students on campus."

Other college towns across the United States face a similar problem.

"We don't have time to come back and do the follow-up for the non-responders because the students have left the area," said Terry Satchell of the Census Bureau.

Adrian Elder, a junior at Central Michigan, said the school's students "mean a lot to this town."

"If you didn't count the 13,000 students that go to school, then they'd lose a ton of money for schooling and public buildings and stuff like that," Elder said.

Amid all the clamor about privacy, the Census Bureau is keeping a few secrets of its own.

People can fill out the short census form online, but there's no mention of online filing on the forms sent out by the Census Bureau or on the follow-up postcard.

"We still kind of prefer the paper option," said Edison Gore of the Census Bureau. "It's kind of tried, proven ... it works."

Gore said that by the time some 120 million questionnaires went to the printer a couple years back, it was too late to add information about Web sites. And he said the Census Bureau couldn't afford to risk any computer glitches, viruses or cyber-attacks.

"We kind of had some concerns about someone perhaps being enticed to use the Internet and then they couldn't, and perhaps they wouldn't send us back a paper questionnaire either," Gore said.

But if you're among the 83 percent of U.S. households that get the short form, you can file over the Internet at the following Web site:

U.S. Census 2000 Home Page

Correspondent Carl Rochelle, Technology Correspondent Rick Lockridge, Detroit Bureau Chief Ed Garsten and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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