The 2020 U.S. census faced multiple challenges during the pandemic. A good case can be made that it should be redone — which President Trump says he will do. The problem is that Trump can be so divisive that Democrats and the media will denounce his census-retake efforts as just another partisan political ploy.

On Aug. 7, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had instructed the Department of Commerce (which oversees the census) to “begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.” One key Trump change for the new census: “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”

Can the president conduct a mid-decade census? Apparently, although it’s never been done. Although the Census Bureau does take other surveys, current law allows the president to conduct a mid-decade census, but only for federal funding purposes, not for reapportionment of House seats.

© The Hill