Register
Play & Learn
Teach
Register
Home > Resource Library > Popular v. President
Lesson Plan
Elections and Voting

Popular v. President

9-12
10-30 min.
Sign up to save to your favorites

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the process for electing the president 
  • Differentiate between the electoral vote and the popular vote 
  • Evaluate pros and cons of the Electoral College 
  • Make and defend an argument 
Sign up to assign Sign up to access

Overview

Can the candidate who wins the majority of the popular votes miss out on being president? They can, and it's happened before. In this lesson, students learn about the Electoral College and the difference between the electoral and popular vote. Finally, students analyze arguments in favor of and against the Electoral College and decide which side they'll stand on.

Love this lesson? Explore all of our free election curriculum and teaching resources at our Election Headquarters. 

Access engaging resources with an iCivics account!

Create your free iCivics account and discover standards aligned lessons and games that meet all of your instructional needs. Our nonpartisan classroom resources engage students with complex concepts in ways they can understand and relate to.

Tags

Pedagogy Tags
History Connection
Primary Source
Tech Options
No Tech Required
Web browser
Integrations
Kami
PDF
Google Slides
State standards icon

View state standards alignment

Search State Standards

Use the Scope & Sequence to help you plan your iCivics classroom experience!

Whether you enjoy finding opportunities within a well-structured sequence of resources or prefer looking around for pieces and bits that can be jigsawed together, our Scope & Sequence documents are a perfect reference point for planning. Scope & Sequence documents are available for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms and list all of our resources in one place.

View the Scope & Sequence