- count on 指望；依靠；依赖
Today is census day in the United States, the date for which people must provide basic demographic information.
The decennial count is the world’s most expensive population survey, costing around $16bn this year.
Mandated【按法律要求的】 by the constitution, it is used to apportion electoral-college votes, draw up congressional districts and, indirectly, allocate $1.5trn of federal funds each year.
But the coronavirus, which has killed 4,000 Americans already, means this year’s count may be the hardest ever.
Most people will respond online, but in the census of 2010 almost a quarter of Americans had to be counted by hundreds of thousands of door-knocking workers.
That will be difficult with lockdowns in place in most big cities. This year’s count was already looking troubled, as many feared Donald Trump’s policies would scare undocumented immigrants away from responding.
The consequences of a poor count may last much longer than the virus.
Apr 1st 2020
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