Opinion writing topics is a type of persuasive writing prompt that asks for the writer’s opinion or point of view on a specific topic. Learn more in our guide.
This type of writing can help you hone your skills and prepare you to give your point of view about something. Topic prompts are a great way to get started and can help you think through your ideas about important issues and formulate a succinct, compelling spoken response. Before you begin, check out our top writing tips!
Contents
- How To Structure An Opinion Piece
- Political Opinion Topics
- Sports Opinion Topics
- Opinion Topics on History
- Personal Opinion Topics
- Environmental Opinion Topics
- Opinion Topics On Education
- Health Opinion Topics
- Psychology Opinion Topics
- Ethics Opinion Topics
- Opinion Topics On Culture
- Technology Opinion Topics
- Opinion Topics On Media
- Social Opinion Topics
- Author
How To Structure An Opinion Piece
An opinion article can be structured using the classic 5-paragraph essay format, starting with your introduction, three subtopics, and your conclusion. For more detail, check this out: How To Write a 5 Paragraph Essay.
Introduction
When considering topics to write about, the introduction should be a few sentences that state your opinion and tell your readers what you plan on discussing in the rest of the article.
Reason 1
Your next section should introduce the first reason you have to support your opinion and should offer researched or anecdotal evidence to back it up.
Reason 2
The second section should introduce another reason why you hold the opinion you do and why readers should consider agreeing with your point of view. You can also check out these quick writing topics.
Reason 3
In this section, you will give a third reason that supports your opinion, and ideally, you will save your most compelling reason for this part of the article. If you have a very long essay, you may give more than three reasons. Keep each succinct and include plenty of reliable corroborating evidence.
Conclusion
In your conclusion, you will restate your opinion and briefly recap the reasons why you believe the way you do. End with a powerful, emotionally-charged phrase that invokes introspection or a strong call to action that motivates readers to take the next step.
Political Opinion Topics
1. Do you think common sense gun control laws are needed in America?
2. Slavery still exists in the United States in the form of for-profit prisons.
3. What do you think justifies starting a war?
4. Religious freedom isn’t important in the United States.
5. The electoral college should be abolished.
6. Should countries be allowed to make and own nuclear weapons?
7. Requiring identification to vote is a form of voter disenfranchisement.
8. The U.S. should have three or more major political parties.
9. Ranked-choice voting is ideal.
10. Should the U.S. do away with the annual immigration cap?
11. American news is biased.
12. Cannabis legalization has done more harm than good.
13. The government should control the price of life-saving medications like insulin.
14. Should the European Union (EU) be disbanded?
15. Celebrities should stay out of politics and refrain from giving public political opinions.
16. Red states in America tend to be poorer than blue states.
17. More welfare programs need to be available in America.
18. Should cities invest in hostile architecture to prevent homeless people from gathering?
19. Is social stability or freedom of choice more important?
20. Gerrymandering is a significant problem in the United States.
21. Baby boomers are victims of environmental lead poisoning.
22. America is an oligarchy.
23. Federal minimum wage should be raised.
24. Do large corporations have too much influence in politics?
25. Lobbying should be banned.
26. Feminism has gone too far.
27. The U.S. war on Iraq was unnecessary.
28. Political asylum should be available in other countries to Americans who flee the U.S.
Sports Opinion Topics
29. Steroid takers must be banned from team sports activities.
30. Does participation in sports keep teens out of trouble?
31. Colleges spend too much money on sports programs.
32. Animal sports should be banned and criminalized.
33. Sports should be obligatory at school.
34. Girls should have equal representation in co-ed sports.
35. Is American football too dangerous to play?
36. Professional sports players are paid too much money.
37. Children should not be allowed to participate in dangerous sports.
38. Is swimming easier on the body than other types of sports?
39. Golf isn’t a real sport.
40. Cheerleading and gymnastics are real sports.
41. Students in sports should not get passes for bad grades.
42. Sports teams should be required to change racist names and mascots.
43. Children’s gymnastic coaches should never be male.
44. Should athletes on drugs be forced to give up their awards?
45. Should sports betting be made legal?
46. Homeschooled children should be allowed to play public school sports.
Opinion Topics on History
47. Evolutionary theory is superior to creationism.
48. History repeats itself.
49. Should statues of former enslavers be removed?
50. The treatment of Indigenous Americans by early settlers should be taught to children.
51. Thomas Jefferson did more harm than good when helping to found America.
52. Religion is the reason for all the major conflicts in history.
53. Fashion is an important part of history.
54. The American gold rush ultimately hurt the U.S. economy.
55. American slavery still exists today in different forms.
56. Did World War II have a positive effect on America?
57. The Renaissance was the most significant historical period in the U.S.
58. The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t do enough for Black Americans.
59. Does the Civil War still affect Americans today?
60. The Industrial Revolution contributed heavily to today’s climate change problems.
61. The working conditions in the 1900s were better than today.
62. Christianity has largely been violent throughout history.
63. Legends and myths have helped to shape modern history.
64. Thomas Edison was the most important figure in American history.
Personal Opinion Topics
65. Talent is more important than hard work.
66. Should there be more plus-size fashion models?
67. You don’t need the talent to become a famous pop star.
68. People should not have to pay for music.
69. Pets should always be spayed or neutered.
70. Should energy drinks be banned?
71. Popular music objectifies and sexualizes women.
72. Not getting consent is sometimes okay, depending on the circumstances.
73. Poaching should be more severely punished.
74. Should makeup be required to be cruelty-free to be sold in stores?
75. There is no such thing as “bad” words.
76. Couples should try living together before getting married.
77. People put too much pressure on women to look a certain way.
78. College sororities and fraternities promote misogyny.
79. Women are systematically kept out of leadership roles.
80. Governments are generally untrustworthy.
81. Do leaders have a moral obligation to their followers?
82. Rich people should pay more taxes than average Americans.
83. Children shouldn’t receive participation trophies.
84. Minors should be able to get birth control without their parent’s approval.
85. Overbearing parents are more harmful to children than they are helpful.
86. Older generations have a lot to learn from young people.
Environmental Opinion Topics
87. Genetically modified ingredients are harmful to the environment.
88. Organic food label requirements aren’t strict enough.
89. Should governments regulate corporations’ use of disposable plastic items?
90. The meat and dairy industries are destroying the environment.
91. Are migrant farm hands underpaid?
92. Authoritarian governments can effectively fight global warming.
93. Not enough is being done about global environmental pollution.
94. Are other countries doing better than America with sustainability initiatives?
95. The military must take a more active role in protecting natural habitats.
96. Climate justice organizations will end up doing more harm than good.
97. All new cars should be electric.
98. Climate change should be the most important topic for political agendas.
99. Mass farming practices put endangered plant and animal species at higher risk.
100. Does poaching have a negative effect on the environment?
101. The American government should create more recycling initiatives.
102. Should urban areas be made more environmentally friendly?
103. Rainforest conservation should be taken more seriously by global governments.
104. Waste management directly affects climate change.
105. Will water pollution become a bigger problem than air pollution?
Opinion Topics On Education
106. Why are some people against critical race theory being taught in American public schools?
107. Is college as beneficial for students today as it was 20 years ago?
108. Should students be required to wear school uniforms?
109. Do you think the common core curriculum should be taught in schools?
110. Do you think homeschooling is better than public school?
111. Is e-learning and virtual school detrimental or helpful for children?
112. Adequate education is systematically denied to Black and Indigenous populations in the U.S.
113. America needs more climate change and environmental education.
114. Schools aren’t doing enough to regulate bullying.
115. Do school lunches in America need improvement?
116. Children should not be required to do homework at night or on the weekends.
117. School should start later in the morning.
118. Teachers in America need to get paid a higher salary.
119. Should children be able to opt out of gym classes?
120. High school students should focus on their education instead of getting a side job.
121. Children should get a financial incentive for getting good grades.
122. Parents should not be held responsible for school truancy.
123. There is too much pressure on high school graduates to begin college immediately.
124. Are standardized tests important for students?
125. Higher education should be available for free in America.
126. Schools are designed for the learning needs of boys, not girls.
127. Students should be able to grade or review their teachers.
128. The stress students go under in high school, and college can cause mental illness.
129. Art and music should be taught in all schools.
130. Affirmative action has done more harm than good.
131. High school grades don’t matter later in life.
132. Should all children be required to attend preschool?
133. Vocational education should be made more available to high school students.
134. Schools sometimes hand out too many A’s.
135. Are school days too long?
136. The dropout age should be raised.
137. Corporal punishment should never be allowed in schools.
138. Should schools track students with GPS devices in their school IDs?
139. School dress code should not be enforced at prom.
140. Higher education is too expensive.
Health Opinion Topics
141. Is there racial bias against women of color in the medical field?
142. Should the United States have government-funded healthcare?
143. Vaccines should be mandatory without the option to opt out based on belief systems.
144. More money needs to be put into global health initiatives by all countries.
145. Alcohol should be outlawed due to its overwhelming negative impact on public health.
146. Should governments ban ads for high-sugar and high-fat foods?
147. Adequate medical care has become harder to obtain after the COVID-19 pandemic.
148. Ethnic foods are underrepresented in government health and nutrition educational materials.
149. Families of organ donors should be financially compensated.
150. Childhood obesity is a significant problem in America.
151. Listening to loud music is bad for your health.
152. Should stem cell research be outlawed?
153. Medical marijuana has done more harm than good in states that have legalized cannabis.
154. Recreational cannabis should be federally legalized.
155. Americans should be required to get certain vaccines.
156. Genetically modified foods are harmful to human health.
157. First-aid and CPR classes should be mandatory for high school and college students.
158. Is cow’s milk bad for human health?
159. Sugar addiction is the same as drug addiction.
160. Caffeine should not be classified as a drug.
161. Should health supplements be more heavily regulated?
Psychology Opinion Topics
162. Why is generational abuse so common, and how should the issue be approached?
163. Can human nature be changed, and if so, do you think it should be?
164. Psychology isn’t a real science.
165. Men and women are too different to form genuine friendships.
166. Sexual orientation cannot be influenced.
167. Parents should be held responsible for ignoring their children’s mental health problems.
168. Addiction is a disease.
169. It’s important to study the psychology of serial killers.
170. Childhood trauma is the most predictive factor of adult mental illness.
171. Shame is never an effective teaching tool.
172. Do children respond positively to yelling?
173. The psychological impact of fame on child stars is entirely negative.
174. Mass shooters often have problematic relationships with their mothers.
175. Doctors should start testing for mental illness at a younger age.
176. Teachers aren’t doing enough to identify when children are being abused at home.
177. Money can’t buy happiness.
178. What defines personhood?
179. ADHD is overdiagnosed in children.
180. Autism is underdiagnosed in girls.
181. Children experience anxiety and depression at younger ages than in previous years.
182. Mental disability can be just as difficult as a physical disability.
183. Eating disorders don’t receive enough attention in America.
184. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be damaging to trauma survivors.
185. Does prenatal development impact psychology later in life?
186. Sigmund Freud’s contributions to the field of psychology are invaluable.
187. Anger management classes should be taught proactively.
188. There are more than five stages of grief.
Ethics Opinion Topics
189. Do you think human euthanasia is ethical?
190. Do zoos engage in unethical practices?
191. Do you believe in testing on animals?
192. When is taking a human life justified?
193. Animals shouldn’t have the same basic rights against cruelty as humans.
194. Animal rights should be written into the Constitution.
195. Capital punishment should be utilized more frequently in America.
196. Billionaires are inherently unethical.
197. Can capitalism be ethical in certain circumstances?
198. It’s unethical to drug test high school and college students.
199. Wearing leather is unethical.
200. Is human euthanasia ethical in certain circumstances?
201. Getting an abortion can be the most ethical thing to do in some situations.
202. Cloning animals is unethical.
203. Should humans be cloned?
204. Drug and alcohol prohibition is unethical.
205. Experimentation on animals is unethical unless it’s for medical reasons.
206. Keeping exotic animals as pets is unethical.
207. Is it unethical to keep dairy cows?
208. Bystanders have a moral responsibility to help in the event of an emergency.
209. Is religion required for morality?
210. It’s unethical to prolong the aging process.
211. Torture is ethical if used to get information out of a political enemy.
212. Moral values enslave people instead of liberating them.
213. Parents have a moral responsibility to vaccinate their children for the benefit of public health.
214. Should minors be allowed to have plastic surgery?
215. Prolonging the life of someone who is brain-dead is unethical.
216. Medical privacy isn’t as important as people say it is.
217. Is it unethical to test drugs on humans if they’re willing?
218. Is insider trading ever an ethical practice?
219. The practice of hunting is immoral and should be banned worldwide.
220. Wearing fur is unethical, and the fur industry should be dismantled.
Opinion Topics On Culture
221. Marriage equality should be left to state governments.
222. Instagram has a negative influence on American culture.
223. Fashion is not an important part of culture.
224. Is graffiti art?
225. Taking young children to church is a form of indoctrination.
226. Parents should be held legally responsible for the actions of their children.
227. There should be more vegan and vegetarian options in American restaurants.
228. Would it be easier to have one world currency?
229. Classical music had an important impact on American culture.
230. Music is the best form of art.
231. Older generations are more entitled than younger generations.
232. Cultural appropriation is a significant problem in the United States.
233. Should workplaces be required to make diversity hires?
234. Other countries don’t put as much emphasis on gender.
235. We should do more as a society to preserve cultural literature.
236. Jewish culture should be protected.
237. Culture has a significant impact on an individual’s personality.
238. Crime is not as common in other world cultures.
239. Chinese medicine is more effective than Western medicine.
240. Professionals should be required to complete cultural competence classes.
241. Workplaces should require diversity training.
242. Cultural bias is a significant problem in the United States.
243. Schools should do more to break down cultural stereotypes.
Technology Opinion Topics
244. Should children have access to cell phones or smartphones?
245. The government should regulate the internet, especially for young users.
246. Does technology make people feel alone?
247. Contemporary people are too reliant on technology.
248. Is technology limiting creativity in young people?
249. The usage of smartphones leads to less live communication.
250. Are spy applications for mobile phones an invasion of privacy?
251. Student textbooks should be replaced by notebook computers or tablets.
252. Children at school should have required computer literacy classes.
253. Should the government be able to access cell phone data?
254. Pirating music is a serious threat to the American economy.
255. People who use file-sharing sites to download content illegally should be prosecuted.
256. Can tablets and cell phones serve as educational tools?
257. Online dating websites should conduct criminal background checks.
258. Using cell phones while driving is a significant problem in the United States.
259. Technology is slowly turning people into zombies.
260. Is online dating dangerous?
261. Video games can help children develop fine motor skills.
262. Artificial intelligence will eventually surpass human intelligence.
263. Web filters at schools should be stronger to prevent access to harmful websites.
264. Productivity apps are a waste of time.
265. Teachers should be required to complete computer literacy courses.
266. Computer games shouldn’t be used to teach students.
267. Electronic books will eventually outnumber real books.
268. People film too much and end up missing out on life.
269. Online reviews are becoming less trustworthy.
Opinion Topics On Media
270. What are the negative effects of watching violence on the news on young people?
271. Are video games responsible for real-life violence?
272. Sexual content on TV has a negative impact on teenagers.
273. Should parents control what their children watch on television or what music they listen to?
274. What is the right age to allow children to have private social media accounts?
275. Censorship of the media is sometimes justified.
276. Court proceedings should be documented for television.
277. Public video cameras are an invasion of privacy.
278. Has the media become too risque in modern society?
279. Modern media is dangerous for children.
280. There’s not enough racial diversity on television.
281. Reality TV isn’t actually real.
282. Shows about teen pregnancy help promote it.
283. Photoshop makes people feel bad about themselves.
284. There should be more female characters in leading roles in movies and television shows.
285. Media manipulation is a significant problem in America.
286. Media is often manipulated to favor wealthy white people.
Social Opinion Topics
287. Are today’s men lacking in good role models?
288. Cancel culture is not positive for society.
289. Gender is a social construct and should not be based on biological sex.
290. What makes a society “civil?”
291. Inequality is a manufactured social construct used by the affluent to maintain power over others.
292. Smoking cigarettes should be illegal.
293. Should children continue to live with their parents in the family home?
294. Parents don’t regulate their children’s exposure to the internet enough.
295. Beauty pageants are inherently harmful to society.
296. Should toy advertisements be banned from children’s television shows?
297. Children should have a say in who the country elects as president.
298. Young children should not be allowed to dye their hair unnatural colors.
299. Cyberbullying is not as big a deal as people make it out to be.
300. Should people be allowed to burn the American flag as a form of protest?
301. Using public genealogy data to solve crimes is unethical.
302. Society isn’t strong enough emotionally, and people take things too seriously.
303. Managers should worry less about making workers happy and worry more about giving them the tools they need to succeed.
304. Religion shouldn’t exist.
305. White-collar hiring managers should worry less about finding someone with job experience.
306. Do individual bad choices affect society at large?
307. People pay too much attention to other people’s business.
308. Do teenagers today have it easier or harder than previous generations of teenagers did?
309. What’s the importance of convenience to society?
310. Should mothers stay home and look after children, or should they work?
311. It’s possible to be religious without attending a church.
312. Immigrants should be required to learn English when they come to America.
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