A introductory US politics homework task

It can be tricky knowing what to set for homework in the first few weeks of a new course. Here's a simple "comprehension" task. Ask students to read this article Downballot Blues from the latest edition of the Economist before defining the key terms, all used in the article, below. The article focuses on why Donald Trump's words and actions on the presidential campaign trail may have harmed the election chances of Republicans in getting into the Senate.

Here's the list of words to find and define:

1. Presidential nominee
2. Senator
3. Swing State
4. Primary
5. Mainstream Conservatives
6. Swing voters
7. Purple state
8. Republican convention
9. Governor
10. Partisanship
11. Split-ticket voting
12. Incumbent
13. Junior senator
14. Bureaucrat
15. Elected office
16. Congressman

A final task would be for students to practise writing a precis of the article for their own notes.