Politics in Question

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Rachel Lears joins Julia and James to discuss how filmmaking can help us understand how people make political change happen. Lears is an award-winning documentary director, producer, and cinematographer. Her film Knock Down the House (Netflix) won the U.S. Documentary Audience award and the Festival Favorite award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Knock Down the House was shortlisted for an Oscar and nominated for an Emmy in 2020. Lears’ latest film, To the End, captures the emergence of a new generation of leaders in the movement to combat the climate crisis.How do people make the politically impossible possible? Why does telling their story visually give us a different perspective on politics than we would get from reading about them in the New York Times or the Washington Post? What explains the progressive movement’s recent resurgence? And what skills do people need to change the political status quo? These are some of the questions Rachel, Julia, and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Ryan Williamson joins James to consider how much money Americans spend on their elections. Williamson is a resident governance fellow at the R Street Institute. He researches and writes on issues related to election reform and administration and governance, such as legislative procedure and capacity.Who is responsible for funding elections in the United States? Do some jurisdictions underfund their elections more than others? How much should elections cost? And how will spending more money on elections impact American politics moving forward? These are some of the questions that Ryan and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia and Lee kick off a new year by considering what the House Speaker election says about the Republican Party. What is going on with the GOP? Is the Speaker's race an example of healthy factional fighting? Or is it a sign of Republican disarray? How does the Republican infighting differ from recent debates within the Democratic Party? And what is Lee’s terrible pun? These are some of the questions Julia and Lee ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia, Lee, and James consider what happened in 2022 and what it means for American politics moving forward. They discuss the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Congress’s January 6 Committee investigation, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and November’s midterm elections. How did these events shape the course of American politics in 2022? Did they change America’s political institutions? And what do they tell us about how those institutions work for the American people? These are some of the questions Julia, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia and Lee join Brendan Nyhan, Lilliana Mason, Aziz Huq, and Jennifer Victor to discuss how America’s system of winner-take-all congressional districts exacerbates the challenges its democracy faces. Nyhan is the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor, Department of Government, Dartmouth College. Mason is an SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Huq is the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. And Victor is an associate professor of political science at George Mason University’s Schar School Policy and Government. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Daniella Ballou-Aares joins Lee and James to discuss the relationship between business and democracy. Ballou-Aares is the CEO and cofounder of the Leadership Now Project, a membership organization of business and thought leaders taking action to protect and renew American democracy. Ballou-Aares began her career at Bain & Company, working across the firm’s offices in the US, South Africa and the UK. She spent five years in the Obama Administration as the Senior Advisor for Development to the Secretary of State, serving under Secretaries Clinton and Kerry. What is the state of democracy in the United States? How much responsibility does business bear for the present state of democracy? And how can business change the status quo? These are some of the questions Daniella, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia, Lee, and James discuss what happened in this year’s midterm elections. Is the Red Wave a superhero or college mascot? Why didn’t it appear on Election Day? Was the midterm outcome a surprise? How did political institutions influence it? What does the outcome tell us about American politics more broadly? And when will Julia announce her 2024 presidential bid? These are some of the questions Julia, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Robert C. Smith joins Julia to discuss race and the American presidency. Smith is a professor emeritus of political science at San Francisco State University. He is a nationally-recognized expert on African American politics. His research has examined comparisons between President Barack Obama and President John F. Kennedy and the relationship between conservatism and racism in the United States. Smith is the author of numerous articles and books on national and African American politics, the presidency, and Congress, including Polarization and the Presidency: From FDR to Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance. His most recent article is “Presidential Responsiveness to Black Interests From Grant to Biden: The Power of the Vote, the Power of Protest” in Presidential Studies Quarterly.Are recent presidents hostile or complacent about the needs of African Americans? Is their record on these issues reflective of broader forces in the political system? How enduring is white racial liberalism in the modern Democratic Party? And what is Obama’s racial legacy? These are some of the questions Robert and Julia ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode, Timothy Shenk joins Lee and James to discuss electoral politics in the United States. Shenk is a historian of the modern United States in the Department of History at the George Washington University, where he researches and writes about American political and intellectual history. He is the author of Realigns: Partisan Hacks, Political Visionaries, and the Struggle to Rule American Democracy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022).Is America on the cusp of a realignment in which a new majority will emerge to shape our politics for the next generation? Or are Americans stuck in a cycle of anxiety-producing, high-stakes elections that are closely contested year after year? What can we learn from the past about the present moment in American politics? These are some of the questions that Tim, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Elliott Morris joins Julia and Lee to discuss political polling. Morris is a data journalist and US correspondent at The Economist, where he writes on American politics, elections, and public opinion. Morris previously worked for an elections returns start-up and the Pew Research Center and has contributed articles to the New York Times. He is the author of Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them.How does polling work? Can polls tell us something that we don’t already know? Are polls misleading? Is the practice good or bad for democracy? These are some of the questions that Elliott, Julia, and Lee ask on this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.