Why - owa?
Iowa and New Hampshire are the first two states to vote in the American primary elections. How do the racial/ethnic demographics of Iowa and New Hampshire compare to the rest of the country?
How accurate was your amazing prediction?
How surprising is this information to you?
What is the big story this information tells?
Iowa and New Hampshire have become highly influential primary states, as they are the first two to vote. Since 1976, except for one year, every eventual Democratic presidential nominee has won either Iowa or New Hampshire. Why do these two states get to vote first?
And who decided that these two states get to go first anyway?
Describe one action a citizen could take in order to change the primary election system.
Explain why going first make such a difference in deciding elections (or anything).
Besides being much whiter than America, how else do these two states differ from the rest of the nation?
What is one consequence of these very White and rural states getting so much influence in deciding our presidents?
Explain whether the data from the chart above is good news.
Name any act a citizen can take that is more patriotic than voting:
Imagine that the first presidential primary was in a Super Tuesday state (see chart above). How would that impact the presidential nominee?
What questions do you have about this data?
In the U.S. before general elections we hold primary elections where we vote on who we are going to vote on in the general. This is unusual. Most countries do not have primaries. Why do we have primary elections anyway?
If you wanted to increase political power for minorities how would you alter the primary election system?
My student, Sam said that the way our primary election system works is NOT democratic. Cite a piece of evidence to support or refute (oppose) his his claim.
My student, Isabel said that the primary system is just the way it is and wondered why we always have to mess with things that have always been the way they are. How would you respond to Isabel’s claim?
