Podcasts

Newly released polls show wide-ranging political scenarios, but reading the electorate can be hard. What exactly is going on and what might pundits and media be getting wrong?In this week’s episode, Joel Benenson discusses his work on four presidential campaigns with Sam Wang and Julian Zelizer. Benenson argues for tempered media coverage of these campaigns, suggesting the key to winning an election centers around addressing people’s lived experiences and economic struggles.Benenson is the founder and CEO of the Benenson Group and one of the leading strategists in the world for campaigns. He is an award-winning researcher and pollster who helped run…

Income inequality in the U.S. has reached a five-decade high, according to data from the Census Bureau. Debates over why this is happening and how to address it have taken center stage in the Democratic debates, with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren calling for a wealth tax while other candidates are pushing back.Emmanuel Saez joins Julian Zelizer in this week’s episode to discuss the erosion of the progressive tax system, which Saez and co-author Gabriel Zucman detail in their new book, “The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay.” While the individual income tax is still progressive, Saez argues that…

Economists shape conversations on topics ranging from business to politics, and their influence is widely felt; the Federal Reserve, trade negotiations, and public spending have become central focuses of political debate. But economists weren’t always permanent fixtures in policymaking.Binyamin Appelbaum joins Sam Wang and Julian Zelizer to discuss the rise of economists between the 1960s and 2000 — the focus of his new book, “The Economists’ Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society. His book explores the role of economists in shaping public policy on issues like the draft, income inequality and distribution, and minimum wage…

Racism affects our criminal justice system — from policing methods to prison-system structures to punishments issued for different crimes. More than 50 years after the publication of the Kerner Report — which investigated the 1967 race riots — many of the same problems of institutionalized racism persist today.Carl Suddler joins Julian Zelizer in this episode to discuss the racialized nature of the criminal justice system, which is the topic of his new book, “Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York.” The book examines history of policies and strategies that led to the criminalization of black youth, including stop-and…

Many conservative politicians have used the term “free enterprise” as a rallying cry during the past few elections. Yet, the exact meaning of the phrase is unclear. Where did this idea come from? What did it mean in different time periods? And what are the stakes in how we define it?Lawrence Glickman joins Julian Zelizer in this episode to discuss these questions, which he addresses in his new book, “Free Enterprise: An American History.” The book examines how the idea of free enterprise has changed over the past few decades, covering its origins in 1832, its growth as an oppositional ideology to the New Deal, and its role in American politics now…

The Democratic field has started to narrow. Of the 26 candidates who announced their bid for the presidency, 20 remain as of mid-September. And at the third Democratic presidential debate last week, only 10 qualified, giving voters a closer look at the candidates’ policy positions.Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang discuss possible reasons behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s steady rise in the polls and the cases in favor and against President Donald Trump’s reelection, as well as the role of voter ID laws, vote suppression, and redistricting in the next election.ABOUT THE HOSTSWang is a professor at Princeton University, appointed in neuroscience with affiliate…

Digital technology is playing an increasingly large role in our lives. We use our smartphones to communicate, post photos, read breaking news, watch videos, and more — to the point where we touch our phones an average of 2,600 times a day, according to a study by research firm Dscout.Author James Williams joins Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang in this episode to discuss his new book, “Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy.” The book examines the attention economy and how this relentless competition for attention from our digital products and services is undermining individual human will and democracy at large.The book was…

Political discussions — and subsequent controversies — unfold by the minute on platforms like Twitter. In this episode, Julian Zelizer speaks with David Karpf about viral moments and their ramifications. Karpf is an associate professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University. His work focuses on strategic communication practices of political associations in the United States, with a particular interest in internet-related strategies.He is the author of "The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy" and "Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy." Both…

Voter suppression, gerrymandering, money in politics, and even issues with the electoral college all call into question whether the United States truly has a representative democracy. How might these issues play a role in the upcoming 2020 elections?Renowned scholar Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law School joins Sam Wang on today’s program for a discussion on election reform.Lessig is the is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership. Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, he was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he founded the school’s Center for Internet and Society, and a professor at the University of Chicago. He clerked for Judge…