Across the Great Divide

Jan 18

Written By Jonathan Milner

AP US Government and Politics

Donald J. Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college vote. What portion of U.S. counties did Trump win?

How accurate was your prediction?
What most surprised you about this map?
According to the map, which states did not have a single county that voted for Clinton?
According to the map, which state was the bluest?
What question do you have about this map?
What is the big story this map tells?
Why do you think that is?
What is a consequence of this?
What are two reasons that rural voters tend to be more Republican?
What are two reasons that urban voters tend to be more Democratic?
How did your state vote in the presidential election?
How did your county vote in the 2016 presidential election?
Do you believe that policies coming out of the Trump White House will be beneficial to red county voters? What do you think are two of the main demographic differences between red and blue counties?
What do you think are two of the main policy differences between red and blue counties? What do you think are the top three things that red and blue counties agree on, politically?
Based on this map and your knowledge of American politics, explain why you think Trump won the election:
Is the big story you identified in this map accurately reflected in your own county?
If you were to look at this map and not know anything about the population of the different counties, what assumptions would you make about the popular vote totals for the 2016 presidential election?
Based on this map, if you were an election advisor to the Democratic Party, what advice would you give them? Based on the fact that overall, the blue counties are growing and the red counties are shrinking, what assumptions would you make about the 2020 election?
In this map, red=Trump and blue=Clinton. What would be other words you could accurately substitute for Trump and for Clinton, for example: red=rural; blue=urban; or red=country, blue=hip hop. Write your answers in the comments section below or tweet them with #apgopo

Learning Extension

Go to the interactive version of the map above and scroll through the different years to see how the presidential vote by county has changed over the past half century.

Action Extension

Reach out to one person you know who is of a different political persuasion from you. Try to find three things that you agree on. At least one of those three things you agree on should be political, for example: we both agree that free and fair elections are essential to any democracy. Share your three agreements on social media or in class.

Bonus Map

Download Today's Class Starter

votingcampaignspolitical parties

Jonathan Milner

Civics Maven!

https://www.gopopro.com/

Across the Great Divide

AP US Government and Politics

Donald J. Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the electoral college vote. What portion of U.S. counties did Trump win?

How accurate was your prediction?

What most surprised you about this map?

According to the map, which states did not have a single county that voted for Clinton?

According to the map, which state was the bluest?

What question do you have about this map?

What is the big story this map tells?

Why do you think that is?

What is a consequence of this?

What are two reasons that rural voters tend to be more Republican?

What are two reasons that urban voters tend to be more Democratic?

How did your state vote in the presidential election?

How did your county vote in the 2016 presidential election?

Do you believe that policies coming out of the Trump White House will be beneficial to red county voters? What do you think are two of the main demographic differences between red and blue counties?

What do you think are two of the main policy differences between red and blue counties? What do you think are the top three things that red and blue counties agree on, politically?

Based on this map and your knowledge of American politics, explain why you think Trump won the election:

Is the big story you identified in this map accurately reflected in your own county?

If you were to look at this map and not know anything about the population of the different counties, what assumptions would you make about the popular vote totals for the 2016 presidential election?

Based on this map, if you were an election advisor to the Democratic Party, what advice would you give them? Based on the fact that overall, the blue counties are growing and the red counties are shrinking, what assumptions would you make about the 2020 election?

In this map, red=Trump and blue=Clinton. What would be other words you could accurately substitute for Trump and for Clinton, for example: red=rural; blue=urban; or red=country, blue=hip hop. Write your answers in the comments section below or tweet them with #apgopo

Learning Extension

Go to the interactive version of the map above and scroll through the different years to see how the presidential vote by county has changed over the past half century.

Action Extension

Bonus Map

Nocation

Voting against Voting