The American Vote
New Deal CoalitionAll 5 grade bands · K-2 through APFree download

1936

Lesson plan.
Franklin D. Roosevelt vs Alf LandonRoosevelt won the greatest Electoral College landslide of the 20th century, carrying 46 of 48 states against Kansas Governor Alf Landon. FDR's New Deal coalition was at its peak, with massive support from labor, ethnic communities, and the poor. The Literary Digest's infamous poll had wrongly predicted a Landon victory, based on a biased sample of telephone and automobile owners (the affluent), leading to the poll's demise and the rise of scientific polling. Only Maine and Vermont voted for Landon.

The 1936 U.S. presidential election sent Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) to the White House. Franklin D. Roosevelt took 523 of the 531 electoral votes to Alf Landon's 8. Franklin D. Roosevelt led the national popular vote with 60.8%. The race falls within the New Deal Coalition era; the lesson packets below dig into its central debates, with New Deal defense among the major themes.

What is in each packet
Cover
Cycle metadata + band eyebrow
Lesson plan
Instructor — timing, materials, standards
Reading
Sized to grade band (K-2: ~250 words → AP: ~650)
Background
Curated cycles — 5-7 vocab terms + primary-source excerpt
Student worksheet
K-2: 3 questions → AP: 8, mixed format
Answer key
Instructor — rationale on every item
Discussion prompts
3 prompts tied to era
DBQ (AP only)
Long-essay + 5-point rubric + second source
Download by grade band
  • K-2
    Story
    4 pp
    20 min
    Free
  • 3-5
    Reading
    5 pp
    35 min
    Free
  • 6-8
    Reading
    6 pp
    50 min
    Free
  • 9-12
    Source
    8 pp
    75 min
    Free
  • AP
    DBQ
    12 pp
    105 min
    Free