Tense used with statistics
I would like to place a statistics in front of the sentence, followed by the agency that has reported it. The findings and reports were done many years ago. Which of the two is correct and why?
- Nearly 10 million Americans accept..., the U. S. Office of Public Affairs reports.
- Nearly 10 million Americans accept..., the U. S. Office of Public Affairs reported.
Likewise, should it be "Americans accept" or "Americans accepted"?
If the findings were reported "many years ago" then that should be made explicit in your Position Paper.
Once the date is included in the sentence, then both "report" and "accept" will be forced into the past tense.
Failure to do so represents an implicit claim (by you) that the situation is unchanged since the original report. Such a claim probably requires justification.