Build a Candidate
According to polls, which of the following traits would be the biggest liability for a US presidential candidate: past marijuana use, being gay or lesbian, Mormon, Muslim, or atheist?
AP US Government and Politics
How accurate was your prediction?
How surprising was the information in the chart?
How will this information be different for the 2028 election?
Explain whether this information is good news.
Consider all the traits in the chart and evaluate whether each trait would make your vote for a candidate more likely, less likely, or wouldn't matter:
How different was your evaluation of presidential traits from that of the average American's?
What questions do you have about the chart?
The 2016 election was certainly a surprise for a lot of people. How much did the outcome of the 2016 election deviate from what your would expect based on the data in the chart?
How much do you think that the election of Donald Trump (outsider, non-religious, had financial troubles, had affairs, etc.) will impact the type of future Democratic or Republican candidates who run for office?
List two generalizations you can make about American presidential trait preferences from the information in the chart:
Do you think that the fact that presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is a homosexual will hurt his chances to be president more than the fact that he is only 37?
In the comments section, using the information from the chart, create an extremely unelectable presidential candidate:
Visual Extension
Action Extension
Do one of the following:
Contact the Democratic National Party or the Republican National Party and give them five pieces of advice on nominating a presidential candidate based on the information in the chart:
Write a letter to the American people telling them what they are wrong about regarding their desired traits for presidential candidates. Post it on social media or send it to your local newspaper (if you still have one).
Make a poster or flyer or video advertisement for the unelectable presidential candidate you created in question 9 above.
Learning Extension
Read the entire Pew report on presidential candidate traits.
