Persuasive speech topics that are easy to research can focus on healthy living and patient care. Persuading audiences of the importance of losing weight, eating organic foods, quitting smoking, exercising and joining a fitness club all make great speeches; speakers can also add how it also benefits controlling diabetes and lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. You can find lots of information, for instance, about the importance of sleep on the Harvard Medical School's website (see Resources). Persuasive speeches can also focus on patient rights in areas such as physician-assisted suicide, abortion and stem cell research, or, alternatively, try to persuade audiences that those practices are unethical and immoral.
Speakers can persuade audiences to more eco-friendly or to demand more environmental regulations. Speakers can find easily researched information on "green living" at the Environmental Protection Agency's website, which lists ideas for topics (see Resources). Persuading audiences to recycle, use public transportation, buy products made with recycled materials and purchase a hybrid or electric car can all make great topics. Speakers can address the benefits to both the family budget and how they help the environment. Other speeches can include topics about legislation and regulation that affect the environment, such as persuading audiences tougher legislation must happen in order to prevent oil drilling disasters and to protect endangered animals and landscapes. Alternatively, speakers could attempt to persuade people that such laws prevent people from getting jobs and will continue to increase our dependency on foreign oil.
Speeches about social issues can persuade audiences about subjects regarding the war on drugs, capital punishment and homelessness. A great place for speakers to start is the Social Issues Research Center (see Resources). Speakers can convince audiences that the government should spend money to hire more police officers, detectives and crime fighters to fight the war on drugs (or not); persuasive speeches can also center on penalties for criminals. In topics about capital punishment, for example, speakers can argue that it provides justice for victims, or that it is wrong based on religious, ethical or moral reasons. Regarding homelessness, speakers can focus on why nonprofit groups need more money to help for job retraining and affordable-housing programs.
Giving a persuasive speech about education allows speakers to address matters such as alternative education and funding, and provide evidence about the benefits (or demerits) of alternative forms of education, such as online classes, charter schools and homeschooling. Speakers can also use government statistics and research to persuade audiences to spend more money for books, computers, school infrastructure and teachers. Persuading audiences to consider school vouchers, change the way school systems fund pensions and operate the tenure system can also make for great speeches. Speakers can easily research many of these topics at the website for the Education Commission of the States (see Resources).