In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Didi Kuo about how to fix political parties. Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and co-author, alongside Lee Drutman, of a new report, A Blueprint for Healthier Political Parties (New America, 2026). Why do we need strong political parties? Are parties failing because of internal choices or outside forces? Why does every election feel existential? These are some of the questions Lee and...
May 27, 2026•49 min•Ep. 168
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the Supreme Court's recent redistricting ruling and what it means for American democracy. The case out of Louisiana — in which the Court's conservative majority struck down a majority-Black congressional district — has helped unleash a mid-decade gerrymandering frenzy, with Texas, California, Florida, and Virginia all redrawing their maps. What are the political consequences of these decisions? Is mid-decade redistricting the new nor...
May 27, 2026•47 min•Ep. 167
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat about the SAVE America Act. What is the partisan tension behind putting up a voter ID bill? How could this policy harm Republicans? What is the relationship between cloture and filibusters? These are some of the questions that Lee and James explore this week. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Apr 20, 2026•30 min•Ep. 166
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Soren Dayton about the importance of factions within Congress. Dayton is Director of American Governance Policy at the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI) and co-author of a new paper alongside James, Rebuilding Congress from Within: How Factions Facilitate Deliberation and Lawmaking (FAI, 2026). How can factions help decentralize Congress's decision-making process? Where do factions come from? How do factions operate i...
Apr 06, 2026•51 min•Ep. 165
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Danielle Thomsen about the role of money in politics. Thomsen is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and author of The Money Signal: How Fundraising Matters in American Politics (The University of Chicago Press, 2025). How does our current fundraising landscape reinforce inequality in politics? Who typically donates to political campaigns? How has the role of money in politics evolved over the las...
Mar 05, 2026•39 min•Ep. 10
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Liz Suhay about the death and myth of the American Dream. Suhay is a professor of government in the School of Public Affairs at American University and the author of Debating the American Dream: How Explanations for Inequality Polarize Politics (Russell Sage Foundation, 2025). Is the lack of the American Dream the fault of the individual or of systemic factors? What role does partisanship play in individuals’ beliefs about meritocrac...
Mar 05, 2026•39 min•Ep. 9
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James talk with their former co-host Julia Azari about the role of presidents in shaping of racial norms. Azari is a Professor of Political Science at Marquette University and author of Backlash Presidents (Princeton University Press, 2025). How have presidents shaped racial norms? Why was President Andrew Johnson a “backlash president”? What role does Congress play in coalition-building and norm shaping? These are some of the questions Lee...
Jan 28, 2026•55 min•Ep. 164
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James dive into the “moderate debate.” They discuss Lee’s recent Substack essay, The Moderation Debate Fiddles with 2% While Democracy’s Dimensionality Collapses . Should parties move to the center? How do we define “moderate”? And what would it take to reinvigorate dimensionality in party politics? These are some of the questions Lee and James ask in this week’s episode. Links to the previous episodes referenced: Why do Americans use prima...
Dec 19, 2025•38 min•Ep. 163
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, host Lee Drutman talks with Leader Stacey Abrams about the current state of democracy. Leader Abrams is a strategist, novelist, and host of the podcast Assembly Required. How do we create a sustainable democracy? What’s the difference between autocracy and authoritarianism? What role does civil resistance play in sustaining democracy? These are some of the questions Lee asks in this week's episode of Politics in Question. Hosted by Simplecast, an A...
Nov 06, 2025•29 min•Ep. 162
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James talk with Matt Glassman about the state and stakes of the government shutdown. Glassman is a Senior Fellow at The Government Affairs Institute and the author of the Substack Matt’s Five Points . What's the underlying cause of this shutdown? How do you "win" a shutdown? What will be the future political costs for the Democratic Party in trying to make a healthcare policy deal? These are the questions that James and Lee explore in this ...
Oct 30, 2025•38 min•Ep. 161
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question , Lee talks with G. Elliot Morris about all things polling. Morris is a data-driven journalist and author of Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022). How should we evaluate the quality of polling data? What can polling data actually tell us about a candidate’s performance in an election? What factors cannot be measured through polling? These are the questions that Lee explores in this week’s episod...
Oct 22, 2025•44 min•Ep. 160
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question , Lee and Julia talk with Hahrie Han, a recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient , about the intricacies of local-level political organizing. Han is a Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute, Faculty Director of the P3 Research Lab, and author of Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church (Knopf, 2024). What are the mechanics of creating collective action? How...
Oct 16, 2025•48 min•Ep. 159
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the context behind the looming government shutdown. They walk through the history of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and examine whether Congress can still play its constitutional role in checking the executive. What exactly is a rescission, and how does it work? How does a “pocket rescission” differ from the normal process? Should lawmakers amend the Budget Act? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in thi...
Sep 11, 2025•41 min•Ep. 158
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question , Lee sits down with Oscar Pocasangre and Dustin Wahl to discuss the representation of young people in politics. Pocasangre is a Senior Data Analyst at New America, and Wahl is the Executive Director of Fix Our House. Together, they co-authored a new report, The Age Divide , published by Protect Democracy (2025). Is gerontocracy a uniquely American problem? How can we bring more young people into politics? And what changes to our electoral system co...
Aug 28, 2025•34 min•Ep. 157
In this week's episode of Politics in Question , Lee and James catch up on the state of redistricting in the U.S. They discuss Lee’s latest Substack piece, “ Democracy in Pieces: Did the Texas Gerrymander Just Break the Districting Game ?” Who writes the rules? Does the Democrats’ response to redistricting in Texas affirm the idea that political actors ultimately control the electoral process? And does it undermine Democrats’ past claims of supporting independent redistricting? Do the people sti...
Aug 06, 2025•34 min•Ep. 156
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee Drutman discusses with Anne Meeker how case work and constituent services would work under proportional representation. Meeker is Deputy Director of POPVox and co-author of a white paper titled How Would Constituent Services in American Multi-Member Districts Work? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising....
Jul 23, 2025•47 min•Ep. 155
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the role of conflict in policy making, guided by E.E. Schattschneider's The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America (1960). How can conflict drive change? How do our current views of partisanship and conflict inform decision-making? How does who controls the scope of conflict shape democratic participation? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week's episode. Hosted by Simplecast...
Jun 25, 2025•47 min•Ep. 154
In this week’s special live episode of Politics In Question , James and Lee talk with Soren Dayton about cycles of electoral reform. Dayton is the Director of Governance at the Foundation for American Innovation. What are the boundaries of presidential power? How has power been centralized within the Executive Branch throughout history? What role does partisan politics play in the current conflicts over the separation of powers? These are some of the questions James and Lee explore in this week’...
Jun 11, 2025•50 min•Ep. 153
In this week’s special live episode of Politics In Question , Lee and Julia talk with Didi Kuo about the evolution of political parties in America. Kuo is a Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don't (Oxford University Press, 2025). Why do we need strong political parties? What is the foundation for a “good” political party? And how do we get them? These are some of the...
Jun 04, 2025•51 min•Ep. 152
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee and James talk with Jonathan Rauch about Christian nationalism and its relationship to democracy. Rauch is a senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and the author of Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Yale University Press, 2025). How new and distinct is this version of Christianity in American public life? What has been the historical role of Christianity in American democracy? And what exactly...
May 28, 2025•46 min•Ep. 151
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee and James talk with Samuel Bagg about participation and democracy. Bagg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and the author of The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2024). What are the origins of deliberative democracy? What is the role of participation in the 21st century? How should we think about democracy beyond individual de...
Mar 05, 2025•50 min•Ep. 150
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee and Julia talk with Charles Hunt and Jaclyn Kettler about political scandals. Hunt is a Professor of Political Science at Boise State University (BSU), and Kettler is a Political Science Associate Professor at BSU. They are the hosts of Scandalized , a podcast where each episode unpacks a political scandal from American history. What's the difference between an honest mistake and a scandal? How does the political landscape contextualize how we...
Feb 05, 2025•37 min•Ep. 149
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee talks with Paul Pierson and Eric Schickler about the polarization of American politics and the emergence of a new constitutional order. Pierson is the John Gross Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Berkeley, and Schickler is the Jeffrey & Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science and co-Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at Berkeley. They are the authors of Partisan Nation: The Dangerous New Logic of Americ...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 148
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia and Lee talk with Stephanie Ternullo about the political shift among white working-class Americans. Ternullo is an Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of How the Heartland Went Red: Why Local Forces Matter in an Age of Nationalized Politics (Princeton University Press, 2024). How do people grow partisan attachments within their social groups? What are the crucial elements of class? How do national party politics...
Jan 15, 2025•40 min•Ep. 147
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, James, Julia, and Lee discuss political dysfunction and how our perceptions of politics influence our views. They discuss Lee’s Substack piece We Need More (and Better) Parties and Julia’s Substack piece The Odds vs. The Stakes: In 2024, They Don't Seem to Be Related. How should media cover elections? In what ways is power being used to shape policy? Should we build political parties through existing social networks? These are some of the questions...
Dec 25, 2024•30 min•Ep. 146
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Zack Beauchamp about how we make sense of democratic threats. Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox and author of The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World (PublicAffairs, 2024). What are the risks to American democracy? How do social and economic hierarchies influence the functioning of democracy? Who defines democratic values? These are some of the questions Lee and Julia...
Dec 03, 2024•52 min•Ep. 145
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee talks with Kevin Morris about demographics, voting rights, and elections. Morris , a Senior Research Fellow and Voting Policy Scholar at the Brennan Center, is the co-author of the report Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout, 2008–2022 . How have voting rights laws, policies, and practices evolved over time? How has the Shelby County v. Holder decision impacted voting laws within states? Is there a correlation between state laws and vot...
Dec 02, 2024•49 min•Ep. 144
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Julia talks with Scott Mainwaring about multipartism and presidentialism. Mainwaring is the Eugene and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the co-author, alongside Lee Drutman, of The Case for Multiparty Presidentialism in the U.S. (Protect Democracy, 2023). How do institutions impact coalition fluidity? What is the role of actors within formal institutions? What can we learn about multipartism from L...
Nov 27, 2024•47 min•Ep. 143
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia and Lee talk with Sam Rosenfeld and Daniel Schlozman about the evolution of political parties in the United States. Rosenfeld is an is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colgate University and Scholzman is a Joseph and Bertha Bernstein Associate Professor of Political Science at John Hopkins University. They are the authors of The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics (Princeton University P...
Nov 25, 2024•48 min•Ep. 142
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Chloe Nicol Thurston and Emily Zackin about the United State’s relationship to debt and debtors. Thurston is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and Zackin is an Associate Professor of Political Science at John Hopkins University. They are the authors of The Political Development of American Debt Relief (Chicago University Press, 2024). What role has race played in the United States' histor...
Nov 22, 2024•41 min•Ep. 141
