The Emergence of the New Right: Election of 1980

Activity Overview

During any election, it's important to understand both sides and their beliefs. While studying the 1980 Presidential Election, students will find it helpful to compare and contrast the Democratic and Republican parties, namely Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Students will use a T Chart to highlight each candidate, their positions, ideas on foreign and domestic policy, and ideologies. From this, students will be able to analyze how and why each candidate fared the way they did politically and specifically during this election.

Students Can Collaborate!

Teachers may wish for students to work together on this lesson which is possible with Storyboard That's Real Time Collaboration feature! With Real Time Collaboration, students can work on the same storyboard at the same time which is perfect for this lesson! As teachers know, collaborating on assignments allows students to think on a deeper level while increasing their communication and problem-solving skills. Collaboration can also help cut down on the time it takes to complete a storyboard. While there is no set limit to the number of users who can work on a storyboard at once, we recommend five users or fewer for optimal performance. All of our assignments default to individual. To make this lesson collaborative, teachers must enable collaboration for the assignment within the "Edit Assignment" tab.

Extension Activity

Have students create a grid storyboard to detail what principles and ideas are a part of major terms like liberalism and conservatism. This will allow students to gain a better understanding of what exactly constitute the core ideas of each ideology and political position, and how these principles factored into the 1980 election.