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Track the Polls

Subjects

• Statistics
• Civics
• Current Events

Grade

• 6-12
  

Brief Description

Students track poll results before Election Day.

Objectives

Students track the ever-changing polls during the weeks leading up to Election Day. They compare polls from week to week to see how the results of different polls change.

Keywords

poll, election, campaign, graph, president

Materials Needed

• computers with Internet access or other resources with presidential polls, graphing supplies

Lesson Plan

Challenge students to track what polls are saying about the election. (Groups of students might track different poll sources.) Ask students to share new results from their sources on a weekly basis. Encourage students to use graphs or pie charts to help their classmates see and understand the poll numbers. Challenge students to write a weekly summary throughout the campaign that highlights similarities and differences in poll findings. You could also take a weekly poll of your students, and have them create graphs to show how classmates' choices change from week to week.

Poll Resources on the Web

• USA Today Presidential Poll Tracker
• CNN Candidate Polling
• Gallup.com Election 2008 Coverage
• PollingReport.com: Election 2008
• Real Clear Politics: McCain vs. Obama
• NPR 2008 Election Map
• PresidentPolls2008.com
• Election 2008 Polls

Assessment

Lesson Plan Source

Submitted By

Lois Lewis

National Standards

Social Sciences:
NSS-C.5-8.1
NSS-C.5-8.5
NSS-C.9-12.1
NSS-C.9-12.5

Mathematics:
NM.5-8.10
NM.9-12.10

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