Foreign-Born Hispanics More Positive About the Census Than Native-Born

Foreign-born Hispanics are more knowledgeable and positive about the census than native-born Hispanics and more of them correctly know that the head count cannot be used to determine whether they are in the country legally or not, according to a Pew Hispanic Center survey conducted March 16-25.

Ninety-one percent for foreign-born Hispanics say they have already sent in their census forms or will definitely do so, compared to 78 percent of the native-born.

While 70 percent of Hispanics overall say the census is good for their community, 80 percent of the foreign-born feel that way compared to 57 percent of the native-born. Eighty percent of the foreign born say they trust the Census Bureau to keep personal information confidential while only 66 percent of the native-born say the same.

Sixty-nine percent of foreign-born Hispanics know that the census information cannot be used to determine their legal status compared to 57 percent of the native-born.

Pew says 48 percent of all Hispanics say they have seen or heard something recently from an organization encouraging them to fill out their census forms. The Census Bureau has spent about 20 percent of its advertising budget this year on messages aimed at Hispanics in an effort to improve the participation rate, which was 69 percent in 2000 for Hispanics compared to 79 percent for non-Hispanics.

"The outreach efforts appear to have improved attitudes toward the census among Hispanics," Pew said. "Among those who say they have recently seen messages encouraging participation, views of the census are more positive; knowledge of the census and its uses is greater; and a higher share say they definitely plan to send in their census forms."

In a different poll, a CNN/Opinion Research survey conducted March 19-21 found that 83 percent of Americans did not consider the census an invasion of their privacy. Some conservatives libertarians and Tea Party activists argue that the Constitution only mandated a head count and the current questionnaire goes too far.

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