In this paper we study quantitative aspects of trace characters Θπ
of reductive p-adic groups when the representation π varies. Our approach
is based on the local constancy of characters and we survey some other related
results. We formulate a conjecture on the behavior of Θπ relative to
the formal degree of π, which we are able to prove in the case where π
is a tame supercuspidal. The proof builds on J.-K.~Yu's construction and the
structure of Moy-Prasad subgroups.Comment: Proceedings of Simons symposium on the trace formul