Social Explorer president and co-founder explains the impact of adding the citizenship question to the upcoming census. Check out the full interview in "The Power to Reshape Our Politics" by Slate's Isaac Chotiner.

On Monday, the Commerce Department declared that it would ask people in the upcoming census whether they were American citizens. Long rumored, this decision—assuming it survives the legal challenges that are already arising—has the potential to reshape our politics to the advantage of Republicans. To discuss why, as well as the other implications of this decision, I spoke with Andy Beveridge, a professor at Queens College and the CEO of the demographics research company Social Explorer. 

In the interview, Beveridge addresses:

• How this new question in combination with the anti-immigrant climate created by the Trump administration could deter immigrants from responding to the census.
• Which groups and parts of the country risk being undercounted and what that means for equal representation and fair funding.
• How the addition of the citizenship question fits into the larger context of partisan politics.
• How the census serves as an important baseline for data and research.

He adds, "I always tell my students that the census is really only about two things: power and money. It’s a way to divide power up, and it’s also a way to divide money up, and so if it’s screwed up for 10 years, it’s a real problem."

Read the full interview here, and find out more about Social Explorer and the new census question here.