Electoral Confidence
Critical Analysis
What percentage of American adults are confident in the honesty of their country’s elections?
What story does the chart tell about American electoral confidence?
Why do you think American electoral confidence is this way?
How does this level of confidence impact American politics?
How confident are you in American elections?
Make a claim about why someone should or shouldn’t have confidence in the American electoral system and support it with one piece of evidence.
Explain why, despite America’s dismal electoral confidence, it looks like 2020 voter turnout will be the highest of the past century.
How much do you think American federalism and its decentralized electoral system impacts voter American confidence?
Imagine that the U.S. had a similar level of electoral confidence as Sweden (almost 90%!) How would that impact the 2020 elections?
Describe one thing the U.S. federal government could do to increase American electoral confidence?
In general, has the Trump presidency increased or decreased electoral confidence?
Because of the electoral college, in two of the past five U.S. presidential elections, the candidate who got the most votes lost the election. What impact does the undemocratic nature of the electoral college have on American electoral confidence?
American interpersonal trust (how much we trust each other) has declined precipitously since 1973. How does America’s low level of interpersonal trust connect to our level of electoral confidence?
What impact does social media have on electoral confidence?
How has this electoral confidence changed over time?*
How do demographics impact electoral confidence?*
Learning Extension
Read this roundup of the Gallup polling data.
Action Extension
The federal government has some control over American elections. Contact your U.S. representative with one idea about how to boost American electoral confidence. Share your legislator’s response in class or online.