Writing on his TruthSocial platform last week, Trump had said that he had instructed the US Department of Commerce to “to immediately 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”.

The US Census Bureau has so far this year seen Robert Santos resign as director, with Ron Jarmin stepping in as acting director, and calls for increased funding for the body ahead of the 2030 census.

Howard Fienberg, senior vice-president advocacy for the Insights Association, said that the Insights Association was looking forward to working with the president “to fully resource a great 2030 census”.

He added: “Of course, preparations are already well underway, with the first field testing in six sites across the country in 2026.

“It takes a whole decade to research, develop, field and process a complete and accurate count of the US population.”

Fienberg said that if the president had requested a mid-decade census, the Census Bureau did not have the staff available to carry one out, with existing law also prohibiting a mid-decade census for being used for redistricting or apportionment of congressional districts.

“We look forward to learning more about the ‘modern day facts and figures’ and other details referenced by the president, which sound like they would be valuable to inform any efforts to improve the decennial census,” Fienberg added.