美国人口普查对尼尔森和全美其他企业的成功和准确测量起到了重要作用。在即将到来的 2020 年人口普查中，可能会引入公民身份问题，立法者、企业和活动家都团结起来反对这一做法，结果最高法院驳回了纳入该问题的理由。
对于尼尔森来说，在这个问题上成为一个有发言权的领导者一直是重中之重，因为人口普查是我们用来准确校准我们的面板和流程的几个数据来源之一。尼尔森认为，加入公民身份问题可能会导致基础数据的不准确性，而这种不准确性可能会对每天依赖这些数据做出重大决策的企业产生重大影响。
尼尔森数据科学高级副总裁克里斯蒂娜-皮尔斯（Christine Pierce）在纽约路透社举办的 "新闻人物"（Newsmaker）活动上讲述了2020年美国人口普查的准确性和完整性的重要性。皮尔斯与众议员卡罗琳-马洛尼（Carolyn B. Maloney）（纽约第12国会选区）、前司法部民权专员贾斯汀-莱维特（Justin Levitt）和前人口普查主任肯尼斯-普雷维特（Kenneth Prewitt）等知名人士共同分享了这一话题。皮尔斯向座无虚席的与会者详细介绍了尼尔森为何采取如此强硬的立场反对增加公民身份问题，尼尔森等私营企业如何依赖人口普查作为真相集的基础，以及没有强大的人口普查投票率所带来的科学风险。
In regard to Nielsen’s stance on a potential citizenship question on the upcoming Census, Pierce noted a core scientific principle of pre-testing the questions statistical veracity “The fact that it wasn’t tested and the fact that it’s a sensitive…and not a necessary question…[is] why we took a stand [against it]. It’s not the right question to be asking on the Census.“
Congresswoman Maloney lauded Nielsen for being one of the few companies to take a public position on this matter in a big way. “I do want to publicly thank Nielsen for speaking out on the Census,” said Congresswoman Maloney. “The business community which had always had a very active role in the Census..they were very big, big supporters of it because they use the data…was quiet. No one was speaking out… No one was speaking out and then Nielsen came out and spoke out…it really meant a lot.and I think had a very important impact.”
皮尔斯进一步强调，从尼尔森的角度来看，准确的人口普查也非常重要，因为人口普查数据的不准确会对企业使用数据的方式产生不利影响，并严重影响那些每天依靠数据做出重大决策的人。
“It’s such an integral part of our business…advertisers, large corporations, networks, publishers and radio stations are all coming to Nielsen to ask ‘How many eyeballs saw this ad, how many people heard this radio program’ and all of that is benchmarked to the Census,” she said. “Everyday we’re using some aspect of the Census—if it’s off, it’s off for a decade.”
Pierce and Congresswoman Maloney shared similar sentiments regarding the potential fallout from an inaccurate Census as the result of a citizenship question being asked. “If your data is not correct, then your policy isn’t correct…your planning isn’t accurate,” Maloney stated. “If you’re not counted, you’re not represented.”
