Episodes
Labor Day is behind us and the conventional final stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign is here. There will be a rush of advertising, debates, more urgent attention paid to jobs reports, and October surprises.
In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, we look at where we are in the campaign and how we got here. In the second episode this week, we'll look at what to expect over the coming two months.
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Published 09/03/24
This month both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump released a slate of economic proposals in an attempt to gain the upper hand on the issue most important to voters. In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, Galen speaks with Jeanna Smialek from The New York Times about the current state of the economy, voter perceptions of it and how the candidates’ proposals might shape both of those factors.
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Published 08/29/24
Just as the Democratic National Convention wrapped up, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the 2024 race. In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew tries to parse the effect that both events could have on the presidential race. They also look to Washington state's primary for an indication of how the House popular vote might play out this fall.
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Published 08/26/24
In this late-night installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew reacts to the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
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Published 08/23/24
In this late-night installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew reacts to the third night of the Democratic National Convention.
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Published 08/22/24
The crew reacts to night two of the Democratic National Convention.
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Published 08/21/24
The Democratic National Convention is upon us. In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew discusses what to expect from the Democrats' weeklong pitch to voters. They also consider how a shorter general election timeline changes the dynamics of the race and how Vice President Kamala Harris's coalition is different from President Joe Biden's.
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Published 08/19/24
One of the most promising electoral trends for Republicans during the Trump era has been a shift among Latino voters toward Republicans. The eight percentage point swing from Clinton in 2016 to Trump in 2020 represented the largest shift of any racial or ethnic group in either direction.
And the erosion of support for Democrats didn’t stop there. In a poll of Latino voters in battleground states from the research group Equis in May, Biden was leading Trump among Latinos by only 5 percentage...
Published 08/15/24
The contours of the Harris-Trump race are coming further into focus. Vice President Kamala Harris just wrapped up a weeklong tour of the battleground states with her newly minted running mate and former President Donald Trump has been weighing in on all matter of topics on social media and in a lengthy press conference.
In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, Galen speaks with senior elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich and New York Times polling editor Ruth Igielnik about the latest...
Published 08/12/24
Vice President Kamala Harris has picked a running mate. On this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew reacts to Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Will the gun-owning, football-coaching Midwesterner help Democrats’ chances in November?
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Published 08/06/24
On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris secured enough delegate votes in the DNC virtual roll call to become the nominee and the announcement of her running mate is imminent. In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew looks at how the contours of the presidential race have changed in the two weeks since Harris became the expected nominee. In our newly relaunched polling averages, Harris has a slim lead nationally and across the northern battleground states.
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Published 08/05/24
How much do you respect people who hold different political views from you? On today’s podcast, Galen speaks with Jeff Spinner-Halev and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, political scientists and authors of the book “Respect and Loathing in American Democracy.” They conducted one of the first empirical studies of respect in American politics, exploring how modern partisans overwhelmingly struggle to respect their political enemies.
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Published 08/01/24
In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew drafts potential running mates for expected Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Who will the veep choose for veep?
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Published 07/29/24
In the span of just two days, Vice President Kamala Harris consolidated support within the Democratic Party and is well on her way to securing the Democratic nomination for president. In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, Galen speaks with Mary Radcliffe and Geoffrey Skelley about what has and hasn’t changed in the newly reshaped 2024 presidential race.
Harris won’t have the same challenges President Joe Biden faced when it came to perceptions of his age, and already it appears...
Published 07/25/24
In this weekend installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew reacts to President Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 race.
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Published 07/21/24
On the final night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination and spoke publicly for the first time since his attempted assassination.
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Published 07/19/24
In this late-night installment of the 538 Politics podcast, senior elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich and New York Times polling editor Ruth Igielnik join Galen to help make sense of the third night of the Republican National Convention. Plus: How should we interpret polls that show a majority of Democrats want President Joe Biden to step aside?
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Published 07/18/24
In this late-night installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew reacts to the first two days of the Republican National Convention. They also discuss the latest developments in President Joe Biden’s efforts to stay atop the Democratic ticket.
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Published 07/17/24
In this bonus installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew discusses former president Donald Trump’s choice of running mate: Ohio senator J.D. Vance. The “Hillbilly Elegy” author is unique among past running mates for his lack of political experience — and for his beard. What kind of running mate might he be? And will it matter?
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Published 07/15/24
In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, the crew reacts to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. They discuss the impact on the country and community and also look at public opinion data on political violence. They also look at historical examples of such violence and track how lawmakers are reacting today.
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Published 07/15/24
The purgatory continues. The number of lawmakers saying President Joe Biden should not run for reelection continues to tick up, while Biden’s answer — that he is staying in the race — remains the same. In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, we look at data on which lawmakers are calling on Biden to step aside and who is continuing to support him.
The RNC also released its proposed platform this week and we use a good or bad use of polling example to better understand whether former...
Published 07/11/24
As the Senate returns to Washington for the first time since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the president appears to be digging in his heels. In a letter to Democratic lawmakers sent Monday morning, Biden was adamant that he is staying in the presidential race. But it does not seem like the interested parties are taking Biden’s insistence as the final word on the issue. With just six weeks until the Democratic National Convention, how does this all end?
And following...
Published 07/08/24
President Joe Biden, in an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday night, acknowledged last week's debate was a "bad episode" but pushed back strongly against broader questions about his age and mental fitness. Biden's sit-down with ABC News was his first television interview since the June 27 debate.
Hear the interview now, in its entirety, on ABC News' "Start Here" podcast: Apple Podcasts (http://bit.ly/3VmuAnm), Spotify (http://bit.ly/3j947fm),...
Published 07/06/24
Happy Fourth of July! To celebrate our independence from Great Britain, the 538 Politics podcast is actually turning its attention to the United Kingdom's upcoming election.
The U.K. is holding its first national election in four and a half years on July 4 and the polling suggests the Labour Party will make historic gains, booting Conservatives from power for the first time in 14 years. To get a sense of the forces behind the dramatic shift since 2019, two longtime friends of the podcast...
Published 07/04/24
The ground has started to shift beneath President Joe Biden's feet. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, multiple Democratic lawmakers raised questions about his viability as a candidate in 2024 and weighed in on who might replace him should he step aside.
In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, Galen Druke speaks with Senior Elections Analyst Geoffrey Skelley about the latest data on how voters are reacting to Biden's debate performance and what could happen next.
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Published 07/03/24