Democrats Are Wrong About Republicans. Republicans Are Wrong About Democrats.
What percent of Republicans earn over $250,000 a year? What percent of Democrats are LBG?
How accurate were your predictions?
What story does this data tell about American political perception?
Why are two reasons for this?
What is one impact these perceptions have on U.S. politics?
Which party is the most out of touch with reality?
What most surprised you about this data?
Do you think that Russian hackers or others hoping to disrupt and undermine American democracy would be happy about these incorrect perceptions we have of each other?
Do you think that these (anti-American democracy) people had anything to do with creating these misperceptions?
Do you think that social media enhances these misconceptions?
What is one thing you could do, individually, to become more accurate in your perceptions of other Americans?
What is one thing, collectively, that could be done to push back against these misconceptions?
Who benefits from these misconceptions?
Explain whether this is a problem?
In ten years do you think members of American Political Parties will have a more accurate perception of each other?
Besides the misperceptions named in the data above, List one other misperception each of the two parties have of each other.
Create the most outrageous misperception of one party by the other party that you can possibly think of and share it with no one.
Learning Extension
Read the entire 538 article on political parties and perception or listen to the NPR story.
Action Extension
The next time you are with your family ask them the four questions from the poll above and see how their perceptions compare to the actual number. Share their responses in class or online.
Try to learn more about the reality of your opposing party and be more accurate in your perception about who they are.
