The Trump Triangle
What part of the country saw the biggest shift from Democratic to Republican votes between the 2012 and the 2016 presidential elections?
What story does the map tell?
Why do you think there was such a big shift of votes from Obama (Democratic=Blue) to Trump (Republican=Red)?
What was one consequence of this shift in voting?
List some of the swing states in the Trump Triangle?
Do you live in the Trump Triangle?
Is there a difference between the Trump Triangle and the Rust Belt?
What are some major economic changes that have taken place in the trump triangle over the past few decades?
Do you imagine that the Trump Triangle states will shift back from Trump (red) to Democratic (blue) in 2020?
What do you think Obama and the Democratic Party could have done to keep the Democratic areas in the Trump Triangle blue (Democratic)?
Were there any parts of the country where the votes went even more blue (democratic) in the 2016 election than they had been in 2012?
What do you think explains that shift?
If the map simply stays the same in the 2020 presidential election who will be the winner?
What do you think will happen in the 2020 election?
Explain which major democratic presidential candidate (Joe Biden, Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, Steyer, Warren, Yang) you think will be more likely to turn the red part of the Trump triangle blue.
One way for the democrats to beat trump is to turn the trump triangle from red to blue. Is there another strategy that you think would also allow the democrats to win?
If we didn’t have an electoral college would the trump triangle make such a difference in the election?
Utah was a big exception to the trump transformation (blue to red). How do you explain Utah’s blue change in 2016?
In the 1980s and 1990s I knew a lot of households where the husband and wife voted for different parties in presidential elections (split ticket homes-I’ll call them). But among my family, friends, and acquaintances (and I know both republicans and democrats) I don’t know of a single household like this today. Do you know many households that are divided by party today?
There are still a couple of blue areas in the trump triangle. What kinds of places are these?
Let’s say that you wanted to come up with a clever name for the blue parts of the nation. What would you name them?
What’s the Most Powerful State? - Extension + Contest
Hey you! we are having a really dorky contest. We want to see if you can explain what the most powerful state is? Our dorky contest ends on Monday, February 10 and the winner gets featured on our dorky website and will win an amazing prize!!!!
Learning Extension
Browse this short article Trump Can Hold The Rush Belt.
Action Extension
See if you can find a single split ticket household. If you do share your discovery in class or online.
Visual Extension
