The House of Representatives voted 232-190 to defund the American Community Survey this month, supposedly on the grounds of budgetary and privacy concerns. Unfortunately, this shortsighted view will sacrifice long-term financial efficiency for a relatively small cost savings.
As the Policy Analyst for Project Vote, I use social science research every day to pursue our organization’s mission to educate and mobilize low-income, minority, youth, and other marginalized and under-represented voters. I depend on research for data on everything from race and ethnicity to income and levels of poverty. The ACS collects monthly data from a total of 3 million homes each year, producing 1 year, 3 year and 5 year population estimates. As result, these estimates give a statistical snapshot of our country that is critical to researchers. Using information from the ACS, I can prepare Project Vote to make decisions based on the most current data available. For Project Vote, knowing where marginalized voters live and work helps us target our work to ensure our optimal effectiveness.
The political attacks on the ACS defy common sense. Businesses, governments, and non-profits, such as Project Vote, all make decisions based on data provided from this survey. Eliminating the ACS is like reducing transportation costs by not buying maps. Without this statistical framework, groups and organizations would be forced to operate in the dark, leading to costly and painful mistakes.
As for concerns over intrusiveness and privacy, we give more personal and sensitive information every time we use Google or Facebook than the ACS will ever request. I don’t claim the survey is perfect, but the information it produces is too important to eliminate. Working to improve the survey instrument or altering the format to ease the burden on participants could alleviate the privacy concerns of those who support H.R. 5326 and save this valuable resource. Furthermore, the suggestion to make the survey voluntary is an even worse idea than eliminating it altogether. The only thing worse than no data is bad data. Without mandatory participation, many respondents would either ignore the survey or provide substandard responses, creating inaccurate and unreliable data.
Turning your back on the ACS is turning your back on what’s really going on in America. If we don’t know what and where the problems are, how can we work to solve them?