Dan Bouk News Today

History professor Dan Bouk talks about his examination of the 1940 Census, which both set the stage for New Deal politics and divided the nation after World War

The author punctures the “aura of objectivity” surrounding statistics, and questions whether you can really fit “the unruly reality of your life” within any set of questions.

In the deft and surprisingly lively “Democracy’s Data,” Dan Bouk explores the uses, misuses and failures of the U.S. Census.

The struggle for racial justice takes center stage this season, alongside surveys of Russian history, WWII espionage sagas, studies of white supremacist ideology in U.S. institutions, and tributes to pioneering Black Americans.

The first set of results from the 2020 census are in, and according to the count, the official population of the United States is 331,449,281.

Eric Baradat / AFP via Getty Images Listen / For decades, the size of the U.S. House of Representatives has pitted state against state in a fight for political power after each census. Thats because, for the most part, there is a number that has not changed for more than a century — the 435 seats for the Houses voting members. While the House did temporarily add two seats after Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959, a law passed in 1929 has set up that de facto cap to represen...

Home/News from NPR/Stuck At 435 Representatives? Why The U.S. House Hasn’t Grown With Census Counts Stuck At 435 Representatives? Why The U.S. House Hasn’t Grown With Census Counts By Hansi Lo Wang  April 20, 2021 For decades, the size of the U.S. House of Representatives has pitted state against state in a fight for political power after each census. That’s because, for the most part, there is a number that has not changed for more than a century — the 435 seats for the House’s vot...

Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) speaks outside the U.S. Capitol in March with other members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the size of which has stayed at 435 voting members for decades. Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images For decades, the size of the U.S. House of Representatives has pitted state against state in a fight for political power after each ...

For decades, the size of the U.S. House of Representatives has pitted state against state in a fight for political power after each census. Thats because, for the most part, there is a number that has not changed for more than a century — the 435 seats for the Houses voting members. While the House did temporarily add two seats after Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959, a law passed in 1929 has set up that de facto cap to representation. It has meant that once a decade, states have had to...

<p>In 1929, Congress adopted a formula for apportionment based on the Census. While made political disputes a matter of law, it also capped the size of the House, which has not kept up with population growth and contributed to the disproportionate influence of small states in the House and the Electoral College.</p>