This activity introduces students to the complexity of the presidential election in the United States. Students look at the popular vote vs. the electoral vote in the 2016 election, then analyze results from the 2020 presidential election.
Note: Last updated at 5pm on Nov. 4th, 2020.
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Students start by making some guesses about the numbers above. What do they have to do with the election?
Students use what they learned about the 2016 election to interpret a map of predictions for the 2020 election.
Here’s a PDF showing the results of a discussion in a recent class on earlier versions of these materials.
After the election, we will update the results to analyze the popular vote and the electoral vote.
For background, you may want to listen to the Throughline podcast from NPR on the Electoral College.
A possible graph follow-up activity: Voting Rates by Age, 1980-2016: Millennials are the Only Group to See an Increase since 2012 (Slow Reveal Graphs)
More voting/election materials on CollectEdNY.org.
Let us know if you use the files, especially if you make improvements or add additional materials.
