Representative Congress?

The chart below represents Congress as it appeared prior to the 2018 midterm election. On the left is what Congress looked like, while the reflective portion shows what the U.S. population looked like.

Since the new Congress began in January 2019, there has been a shift in Congress. Your task is to use the links below the chart to compare the current Congress to the current population. Analyze the breakdown according to party, gender, race, and religion to determine if the U.S. Congress represents the full breakdown of America, or if more change needs to occur.

Ballotpedia Pew Research Center Politico New York Times Center for America Women & Politics

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• 1. What most surprised you?

  2. What story does this chart and your research tell?

  3. Why do you think Congress is made up the way it is?

  4. In what way is Congress demographically least representative?

  5. Is there any group that is drastically overrepresented in Congress?

  6. Is there any way to create more diversity in Congress?

  7. How has the makeup of Congress changed since the last election? Consider age, race, gender, religion, and the amount of Democrats/Republicans/Independents.

Are you reflected in Congress? Use the following link to find out (feel free to put a different age since I'm pretty sure there are no 18 year olds in Congress). The Guardian