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Task

Tasks: The Presidential Election

Discuss:

Discuss these questions in a group.

  1. What strikes you as the main difference between electing a Norwegian prime minister and electing a US president?
  2. Does the process of electing a US president seem more or less democratic than the process of electing a Norwegian prime minister?
  3. President Barack Obama was accused of being born in Kenya, not the US. What did his accusers hope to achieve by making this claim?
  4. Why are primary elections held? What is the benefit of the voters choosing the candidate, rather than the party choosing someone?
  5. Why are national conventions held?
  6. Once each party has a ticket, the campaign to convince voters begins. What qualities do you think a presidential candidate must have to win the election?
  7. What advantages are there to making the national election a choice between just two parties? Is it more or less democratic than having more parties?
  8. Do you think the system of having an Electoral College is outdated? Is it undemocratic?

Make a quiz:

Work in a group. Choose a topic to research from the list below. Make a quiz about your topic for your classmates. The aim of the quiz should be to teach your classmates as much as possible about your topic. Choose a suitable format.

  • the current president of the USA

  • presidents who have died in office

  • one term presidents

  • controversial presidents

  • wartime presidents

  • 18th and 19th century presidents


Analyse:

In the box, you will find a number of slogans from presidential campaigns. Work with a partner or in a group. Study the slogans and discuss what the candidates meant by them. Why would these words appeal to voters? Can you spot any literary or rhetorical devices used in the slogans?

  1. "Free Soil, Free Labour, Free Speech, Free Men and Fremont". John C. Fremont, 1856.

  2. "Don't Swap Horses in the Middle of the Stream." Abraham Lincoln, 1864.

  3. "Patriotism, Protection, and Prosperity". William McKinley, 1896.

  4. "A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage". Herbert Hoover 1928.

  5. "Let America be America again". John Kerry, 2004.

  6. "I'm With Her". Hillary Clinton, 2016.

  7. "Promises Made, Promises Kept". Donald Trump, 2020.

  8. "Unite for a Better Future". Joe Biden, 2020.

Hints

Here are some hints about the presidential slogans that may help you in your discussion. Note that there may be more to talk about than what is suggested by these hints.

  1. This slogan reflects the Republican Party's anti-slavery stance. The party wanted the slaves to be free ('free men' ), and wanted the US to expand its territory towards the west ('free soil'). What is repeated in the slogan, and how does this repetition relate to the candidate's name?

  2. This was the slogan for Lincoln's campaign to win a second term. The campaign took place near the end of the American Civil War. Here, a metaphor is used. The phrase has since become a proverb. What idea is the phrase trying to convey?

  3. In this slogan, you will find both alliteration and pathos. 'Protection' refers to high tariffs on import to protect American businesses from foreign competition.

  4. This campaign slogan was used during 'the Roaring Twenties' when the US economy was doing very well. (This was the year before the New York stock market crashed, sparking a worldwide economic depression.) The slogan contains repetition and juxtaposition.

  5. In this slogan, you will find repetition and alliteration. What idea of America is Kerry evoking here? Does the slogan suggest that America needed to change?

  6. Hillary Clinton was the first female candidate to get the chance to run for president for one of the two major parties. Does 'her' just refer to the candidate?

  7. Here, you will find repetition and juxtaposition. The slogan is an allusion to the proverb 'a promise made is a promise kept'. Trump famously made many promises during the 2016 campaign.

  8. Polarisation is an issue in American politics today. What is Biden saying about polarisation?

Research:

Choose one of the tasks. Present your findings as an oral presentation, or as a research paper. Remember to include your sources.

  1. Compare the process of electing a president of the United States with the process of electing the leader of the executive branch in another English-speaking country. Point out similarities and differences. Discuss whether one system is more democratic than the other.

  2. Every four years, the world watches the US elect a president. The media allows you to follow every step of the process, whether you are in Houston, Texas, or in Harstad, Norway. Why is the US presidential election such a global event?

  3. The 2020 presidential election was special in that it was the first time that the US did not have a peaceful transfer of power after a presidential election. President Trump's supporters stormed Congress in an attempt to prevent the election result from becoming official. Find out more about what happened, and why it happened. Discuss: Does this event tell us anything about the state of the American democracy?

Photo: A man in uniform is facing a group of men in a corridor. One of the men wears a hat with fur and horns; he has many tattoos. Another is wearing a yellow college sweater; he has long hair and a beard, he is carrying a flag. There are two more men obscured from view by the others in the picture.
Trump supporters stormed Congress, January 6. 2021. Image: Manuel Balce Ceneta / CC BY-NC 4.0

Explain:

Write a short text where you explain the US Presidential Election as simply as possible.

Illustration: We see one big circle that says The US Presidential Election. Around it are six smaller circles, each with information about one step in the process to elect a president of the USA.
How can you communicate the information found in this chart as simply as possible? Image: Demitriu Robert / CC BY-SA 4.0

Related content

Subject material
The Presidential Election

Every four years, the eyes of the world turn to the US, when Americans elect their president. Why does the American election attract so much attention?