The US presidential election WORKSHEET A



The U.S. presidential election worksheet A

Barack Obama, the candidate of the Democratic Party, has become the 44th president of the United States. He won the presidential election that took place on 4th November, receiving approximately 53% of the total votes, against 46% for John McCain of the Republican Party and 1% for the other candidates.

In most English-language newspapers you will find Obama’s victory described as ‘historic’. The main reason for this, of course, is that he is the first black person to reach the highest political office in the United States. This is seen as an important symbol of progress in a country where slavery existed until the 1860s, and where in the 1960s the civil rights movement faced bitter opposition in the south of the country as it struggled to end various forms of official discrimination against black people.

Even his political opponents recognise that Obama has unusual charisma, and is one of the best public speakers in recent American political history. This helped raise the level of interest in the election, shown by the total voter turnout of 64% (more than 130 million people), the highest since 1908.

The political map of the United States shows the country divided between blocs of ‘blue’ states, favouring the Democratic presidential candidate, and ‘red’ Republican ones. The west coast and the northeast of the country are now completely blue, while the wide red band running through the middle and south has become slightly narrower with Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida all turning blue on 4th November.

During the election campaign Obama presented himself to the American public as the candidate for ‘change’, and this is also how he is seen in many other parts of the world. Foreign governments that have disliked some of the foreign policies of the Republican president George W. Bush, hope that under Obama the United States will take a different approach to various international issues.

Obama will face many problems, including what he referred to in his victory speech as ‘two wars’ (the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan), ‘a planet in peril’ (the global environmental crisis) and ‘the worst financial crisis in a century’.

However, the tone of that speech was naturally one of celebration, and the theme was progress. In it Obama talked about a 106-year-old black woman in the southern state of Alabama, Ann Nixon Cooper, saying ‘she was born just a generation past slavery … when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons: because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin’. This year, though, she ‘cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change’.

The U.S. presidential election worksheet B

Exercise 1

Complete the crossword below. If all the words are correct, the name of the vice-presidential candidate for the Republican Party (who received a lot of media coverage, and would have been the first female vice-president in American history if the Republicans had won) will be revealed from top to bottom.

| | | | | | | |1 | | | | | | | | | | | |2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |9 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |10 | | | | | | | | | | | |

1. Barack Obama talked about a woman called Ann Nixon Cooper in his victory ___________ .

2. Colorado and Florida are examples of states that voted ___________ in the previous presidential election but turned ‘blue’ this year.

3. Obama knows there is a ___________ in the U.S. financial system.

4. Ann Nixon Cooper was born less than 50 years after the end of ___________ .

5. Voter turnout was ___________ than in almost every previous election.

6. Some foreign governments hope that Obama’s ___________ will be different from those of George W. Bush.

7. John McCain was the Republican ___________ .

8. Many people see Obama’s victory as a ___________ of change in the United States.

9. The civil rights movement in the 1960s opposed ___________ against black Americans.

10. No states in the ___________ of the country voted for John McCain.

The U.S. presidential election worksheet C

Exercise 2

The text from Worksheet A has been rewritten below, but now there is one mistake in every line. Find the mistakes and correct them.

Barack Obama, the candidate of the Democratic Party, became the 44th president of the United States. He won the president election that took place on 4th November, receiving approximate 53% of the total votes, against 46% for John McCain of the Republican Party and 1% on the other candidates.

In most English-language newspapers you will find Obama’s victory describe as ‘historical’. The main reason for this, of course, is that he is the first black person to reach the high political office in the United States. This is seen as an important symbol of progres in a country where slavery existed until the 1860s, and where in the 1960s the civil rights movement faced bit opposition in the south of the country as it struggled to end various forms of office discrimination against black people.

Even his political opposers recognise that Obama has unusual charisma, and is one of the best public speakers in recent American political history. This helped raising the level of interest in the election, shown by the total voter turning of 64% (more than 130 million people), the highest from 1908.

The political map of the United States shows the country divided between bloks of ‘blue’ states, favouring Democratic presidential candidate, and ‘red’ Republican ones. The west coast and the northeast of the country are now complete blue, while the wide red hand running through the middle and south has become slightly narrower with Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Northe Carolina and Florida all turning blue at 4th November.

Along the election campaign Obama presented himself to the American public as the candidate for ‘change’, and this is also how he is saw in many other parts of the world. Foreign governments that have unliked some of the foreign policies of the Republican president George W. Bush, hopes that under Obama the United States will take a different aproach to various international issues.

Obama will face many problems, including what he referred in his victory speech as ‘two wars’ (the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan), ‘a planet in paril’ (the global enviromental crisis) and ‘the worst financial crisis in a century’.

However, the tom of that speech was naturally one of celebration, and the theme was progress. In it Obama talked bout a 106-year-old black woman in the southern state of Alabama, Ann Nixon Cooper, saying ‘she was born just a geration past slavery … when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons: because was a woman and because of the colour of her skin’. This year, through, she ‘cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of time and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can to change’.

The U.S. presidential election worksheet D

Barack Obama, the candidate of the Democratic Party, has become the 44th president of the United States. He won the presidential election that took place on 4th November, receiving approximately 53% of the total votes, against 46% for John McCain of the Republican Party and 1% for the other candidates.

In most English-language newspapers you will find Obama’s victory described as ‘historic’. The main reason for this, of course, is that he is the first black person to reach the highest political office in the United States. This is seen as an important symbol of progress in a country where slavery existed until the 1860s, and where in the 1960s the civil rights movement faced bitter opposition in the south of the country as it struggled to end various forms of official discrimination against black people.

Even his political opponents recognise that Obama has unusual charisma, and is one of the best public speakers in recent American political history. This helped raise the level of interest in the election, shown by the total voter turnout of 64% (more than 130 million people), the highest since 1908.

The political map of the United States shows the country divided between blocs of ‘blue’ states, favouring the Democratic presidential candidate, and ‘red’ Republican ones. The west coast and the northeast of the country are now completely blue, while the wide red band running through the middle and south has become slightly narrower with Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida all turning blue on 4th November.

During the election campaign Obama presented himself to the American public as the candidate for ‘change’, and this is also how he is seen in many other parts of the world. Foreign governments that have disliked some of the foreign policies of the Republican president George W. Bush, hope that under Obama the United States will take a different approach to various international issues.

Obama will face many problems, including what he referred to in his victory speech as ‘two wars’ (the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan), ‘a planet in peril’ (the global environmental crisis) and ‘the worst financial crisis in a century’.

However, the tone of that speech was naturally one of celebration, and the theme was progress. In it Obama talked about a 106-year-old black woman in the southern state of Alabama, Ann Nixon Cooper, saying ‘she was born just a generation past slavery … when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons: because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin’. This year, though, she ‘cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change’.

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