Data Nation

The 2024 election was a time of tension and polarization amongst Americans. With these pressures, according to Associated Press elections data, over 153 million Americans felt the need to cast their ballot this year. Polls leading up to the election painted it as one of the tightest races in history, with The New York Times even reporting that "In the history of modern polling, there's never been a race where the final polls showed such a close contest". In a race with incredibly tight polls, many were shocked when Donald Trump won by a margin far larger than anticipated. A post-election survey conducted by Prolific found that over half of Americans, from both political parties, were shocked by the results with "54% of people at least quite surprised by the outcome of the election". On top of the tension between Democrats and Republicans, other stressors divided Americans further with debates over voter fraud and geopolitical conflicts. With millions of mail-in ballots cast, thousands of voter fraud claims flooded social media platforms. Additionally, an increase in American media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict sparked lots of debate over Biden's global policies and how affected demographics will be voting. Overall, the 2024 Presidential election is a huge moment in American history and will shape the country's future. So today we are speaking with Spencer Kimball, founding Director of the Emerson College Polling Center, and Charlie Rollason, a Senior Research Manager for Ipsos to unpack the election's outcomes and how Americans really voted in 2024.

Today on Data Nation, guests John Della Volpe and Scott Tranter join us to discuss the approaching 2024 U.S. presidential election. Together, we'll explore the many factors at play in the 2024 election from discussing the role of Gen Z voters and the use of social media in campaigning to the importance of swing state voters. Our guests bring fascinating insights with John Della Volpe, the Director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and the author of "Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America", and Scott Tranter, head of data science and owner of Decision Desk HQ, Former Director of Data Science for Marco Rubio for President, and co-founder of Øptimus. Ultimately, there's so much strategy and a multitude of factors surrounding the 2024 U.S. presidential election, and the results will undoubtedly shape the future of our country and our democracy.

With Election Day nearing, this episode explores the relationships between polling and election digitalization with experts Andrew Gelman, a statistician and political scientist at Columbia University, and Brendan Lind, the founder of Human Agency - a company specializing in creating digital footprints for companies and individuals. Co-hosts Liberty Vittert and Munther Dahleh lead conversation to unpack polling methodologies, the implications on campaign strategy of the "bandwagon" and "underdog" effects, how data can be leveraged to target key demographics and swing states, the influence of social media on public opinion, and more. Tune in to Data Nation for an insightful discussion that unpacks the role of data in our democracy!

Why are they using more electric cars in Norway than in the US? What are the underlying mechanisms that drive technological change, and how can we influence them? What is 'soft technology' and what role can it play in lowering carbon emissions? In the season 2 finale of Data Nation, IDSS professor Jessika Trancik explains how her lab attempts to measure and model a technology's real or potential impact, beneficial or harmful, on people, the environment, society — and on critical outcomes like mitigating climate change.

When Maxwell Frost was elected to Congress, he struggled to find housing in DC. Today he advocates for stronger consumer protections and authors legislation to level the playing field between renters and landlords. Frost joins Data Nation along with Catherine D'Ignazio, an Urban Science and Planning professor at MIT, to talk about the challenges renters and home buyers face, how algorithmic technology perpetuates discrimination, and the importance of understanding where data comes from and who benefits from usi

As an MIT professor and tech entrepreneur, Devavrat Shah has seen firsthand how AI tools can impact research, business, and careers. While some have dire warnings about the scale of harm AI can cause, Shah is optimistic. He joins the Data Nation podcast to dispel some doom and gloom, unpack ways that people are already using AI to make change for the better, and to examine how future benefits can emerge with regulation and education.

Regina Barzilay, computer scientist and expert in natural language processing, talks about data collection, privacy, bias, and 'distributional shift' in healthcare algorithms. She addresses the lack of diversity in data sets, challenges in integrating data in drug discovery, biases in AI and healthcare, and challenges in insurance and personalized medicine.

MIT political scientist and MIT Election Lab director Charles Stewart discusses modern-day election fraud and its impact on American elections. Topics include the significance of voting errors, the evolution of voting in the US, the effects of the COVID pandemic on elections, and the importance of being an informed voter.

Liberty Vittert and Munther Dahleh dive into the world of augmented and virtual reality this month with Professor Fox Harrell. Harrell is Professor of Digital Media & AI in both the Comparative Media Studies Program and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. Is the world ready for what's coming? Will augmented reality and virtual reality be a force for good or for evil, and what can you do to prepare yourself? You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @mitidss. Thanks for listening to Data Nation from the MIT Institute of Data Systems and Society.

Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics David Autor joins Data Nation to explore how AI automation can replace, augment, and unpredictably change how we work.