Persuasive Speech Topics

(Part 1 of 2)

Below you will find 125 of 250 persuasive speech topics. Use this list as a last resort, student speeches are almost always more successful when the student chooses a topic that genuinely interests them, rather than merely picking one from a list. Keep your audience and time limits in mind, as well.

1. General education classes
2. United Nations
3. Coke vs. Pepsi
4. Eating fast-food
5. Voting
6. Organ donation
7. Blood donation
8. Stem-cell research
9. Educational costs
10. Lowering the drinking age
11. Immigration
12. Legalizing gambling
13. Legalizing marijuana
14. Legalizing prostitution
15. Smoking in public
16. Public displays of affection
17. Prayer in schools
18. Seat belt laws
19. Helmet laws
20. Boxers vs. briefs
21. Mandatory retirement ages
22. Social security
23. Speed limits
24. Bar closing hours
25. Smoking
26. Airport security
27. Open source code
28. Ritalin
29. Media bias
30. Gun control
31. Hunting
32. Oil drilling in Alaska
33. Alternative fuels
34. Vegetarianism
35. Wearing fur
36. Animal testing
37. Sports teams named after ethnic groups
38. Paying college athletes
39. Volunteering
40. Speaking English in America
41. Taking care of your teeth
42. Privacy rights
43. Advertising
44. Cosmetic surgery
45. Wal-Mart
46. Internet dating
47. Having pets spayed/neutered
48. Liberal arts majors
49. School uniforms
50. Term limits
51. Academic fraud
52. College class attendance-taking
53. Nuclear arms
54. Microsoft
55. Cost of prescription drugs
56. Parental pressure on child actors and athletes
57. Living wills
58. Assisted suicide
59. Public funding of sports stadiums
60. Welfare reform
61. Cell phones in public
62. Personal hygiene
63. Factory farms
64. Organic farming
65. Zoning laws
66. Over-development
67. Over-population
68. Toll roads
69. State vehicle inspection
70. Title IX in sports
71. Landfills
72. Frivolous lawsuits
73. Election reform
74. Animal trapping
75. Mandatory sentencing
76. Littering
77. Crying babies in public
78. School breakfast programs
79. Internet gambling
80. The Patriot Act
81. NAFTA
82. Ford vs. Chevy
83. SUV’s
84. Affirmative Action
85. TV ratings
86. Nuclear power
87. Corporate corruption
88. Prison over-population
89. Education in prisons
90. Drinking more water
91. E-mail SPAM
92. Video games and children
93. Revisionist history
94. NC-17 movies
95. The SAT’s
96. Women’s rights
97. Children divorcing their parents
98. Adoption
99. Reservation casinos
100. Smog
101. Minimum wage
102. Labor unions
103. The I.R.S.
104. Socialized medicine
105. Community College vs. Four Year College
106. Military spending
107. Cloning
108. The War in Iraq
109. Recycling
110. Drinking and driving
111. Ebonics
112. Food additives
113. Presidential pardons
114. Are UFO’s real?
115. Are ghosts real?
116. Hooters
117. Polygamy
118. Paparazzi
119. Steroid use
120. Homosexuals in the military
121. Artificial insemination
122. Eating veal
123. Medicare reform
124. Gay Marriage
125. Evolution

(Part 2) 126-250 Persuasive Speech Topics