Marie Harf: Trump’s Trying to Depress Turnout with Citizenship Questions on Census

WALLACE: California’s attorney general and Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson with sharply different views on whether the 2020 census should ask people if they are U.S. citizens.

And we’re back now with the panel.

Well, Marie, let me start with you.

Why do you think the Trump administration has decided to ask this as a general question on the census for the first time since 1950?

MARIE HARF, FOX NEWS ANALYST: Well, it’s hard to know their motivation. I know what they’ve said.

But for many Americans, including myself, I see this decision in the context of the divisive rhetoric about immigration, in the context of more hard line policies on deportation. And that’s how, most importantly, Americans and people living in the country are seeing it.

So the point of the census is to take account of everyone in the country, not just citizens, and there are many people on both sides of the aisle who firmly believe that this question will depress turnout and that we will not get an accurate count because people are scared of what the Trump administration might do with that information.