In this week’s episode, Daniel J. Hopkins joins Lee and James to consider the influence of public opinion on American politics. Hopkins is a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Stable Condition: Elites’ Limited Influence on Health Care Attitudes . How does public opinion influence policy outcomes in Congress? Do the American people have power over policymakers that they rarely use? How much leeway do policymakers have to act independent of public...
May 22, 2023•51 min•Ep. 110
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee and James discuss the federal debt limit. What is the debt limit? What is the case for raising it? Should lawmakers use the debt limit as leverage to obtain policy concessions that reduce the deficit and debt? And what does the present debate over the debt limit say about American politics more broadly? These are some of the questions that Lee and James ask in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com f...
May 08, 2023•38 min•Ep. 109
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Bart Bonikowski joins Julia and Lee to discuss the relationship between populism and nationalism in American politics. Bonikowski is an associate professor of sociology and politics at New York University. He uses relational survey methods, computational text analysis, and experimental research to apply insights gleaned from cultural sociology to the study of politics in the United States and Europe. Bonikowski focuses on nationalism, populism, an...
Apr 29, 2023•42 min•Ep. 108
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Nicholas Davis joins Julia and Lee to discuss how Americans define democracy. Davis is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama. His research focuses on political psychology, public opinion, ideology, and how Americans understand democratic values more broadly. He is the co-author of Democracy’s Meanings: How the Public Understands Democracy and Why It Matters (the University of Michigan Press). How have Americans defined democracy diff...
Apr 24, 2023•36 min•Ep. 107
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Tabatha Abu El-Haj joins Lee to discuss political parties and the law. El-Haj is a professor of law in the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University. Her work focuses on the process of politics, democratic accountability, and governmental responsiveness. She is the author of numerous articles on America’s politics and its government including, Changing the People: Legal Regulation and American Democracy (NYU Law Review 2011) and Networkin...
Apr 14, 2023•46 min•Ep. 106
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Rick Pildes joins Lee and James to consider two different explanations for America’s present political dysfunction. Pildes is the Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at the New York University School of Law. His work explores legal and policy issues concerning the structure of democratic elections and institutions, such as the role of money in politics, the design of election districts, the regulation of political parties, the structure ...
Mar 16, 2023•57 min•Ep. 105
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Dan DiSalvo joins Lee and James to discuss party factions. DiSalvo is a professor and chair of the political science department in the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. DiSalvo focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Engines o...
Mar 06, 2023•37 min•Ep. 104
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Julia, Lee, and James discuss the President’s State of the Union Address. What is the State of the Union? Does anyone watch it? What purpose does it serve? Can it be made better? 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....
Feb 22, 2023•32 min•Ep. 103
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Paul Elliott Johnson joins Julia and James to discuss conservative populism. Johnson is Assistant Professor of Deliberation and Civic Life in the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on rhetorical theory, argumentation, and American politics, with a particular focus on the rhetoric of populism and American conservatism. He is the author of I the People: The Rhetoric of Conservative Populism in the Unite...
Feb 13, 2023•45 min•Ep. 102
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 ...
Feb 03, 2023•43 min•Ep. 101
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 elec...
Jan 24, 2023•25 min•Ep. 100
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. Hoste...
Jan 14, 2023•35 min•Ep. 99
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 th...
Dec 20, 2022•48 min•Ep. 98
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 Profe...
Dec 10, 2022•58 min•Ep. 97
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 Administrat...
Dec 04, 2022•42 min•Ep. 96
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. H...
Nov 21, 2022•35 min•Ep. 95
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 ...
Nov 16, 2022•37 min•Ep. 94
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 wh...
Nov 04, 2022•45 min•Ep. 93
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Elliott Morris joins Julia and Lee to discuss political polling. M o rris 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 p...
Oct 13, 2022•42 min•Ep. 92
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Sara Wallace Goodman joins Julia and Lee to discuss citizenship and its impact on politics. Goodman is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Her research examines citizenship and the shaping of political identity through immigrant integration. She is the author of Citizenship in Hard Times: How Ordinary People Respond to Democratic Threat (Cambridge University Press, 2022), co-...
Sep 22, 2022•34 min•Ep. 91
In this week’s episode, Sanford Levinson joins Lee and James to discuss constitutional reform. Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. He is also a professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. Levinson is the author of numerous articles and books, including Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It) and Framed: America’s ...
Sep 15, 2022•49 min•Ep. 90
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Jack Santucci joins Lee to discuss electoral reform. Santucci is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Politics at Drexel University. His research examines American political institutions in comparative and historical perspectives. He is the author of More Parties or No Parties: The Politics of Electoral Reform in America (Oxford University Press, 2022) . What makes an electoral reform successful? How is it sustained? What can Ameri...
Sep 13, 2022•35 min•Ep. 89
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Kevin Munger joins Lee to discuss the generation gap in American politics. Munger is the Jeffrey L. Hyde and Sharon D. Hyde and Political Science Board of Visitors Early Career Professor of Political Science and Assistant Professor of Political Science and Social Data Analytics at Penn State University. His research has appeared in leading journals like the American Journal of Political Science , Political Behavior, Political Communication, and Po...
Sep 09, 2022•43 min•Ep. 88
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Matt Germer joins Julia and Lee to discuss election reform. Germer is a resident elections fellow for the Governance Program at the R Street Institute. Before joining R Street, he was a policy counsel and strategic planning coordinator at the Washington House of Representatives. Prior to that, Germer served as nonpartisan staff in the Oregon state legislature. What are primary elections and why do they exist? Do primary elections help polarize Ame...
Sep 06, 2022•38 min•Ep. 87
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Seth Market joins Julia and James to consider how losing an election affects partisans. Market is a professor of political science and the director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver. He is the author of several books and articles on political parties, campaigns and elections, and state legislatures. His most recent book is Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020 (Cambridge 2020). Market contributes regularly at Fiv...
Aug 09, 2022•30 min•Ep. 86
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Lee and James consider why Americans are so upset about politics. Why are Americans so angry when it comes to politics? What is upsetting them? And what can Americans do to change politics when the political system doesn’t work as they want it to work? These are some of the questions 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 ...
Jul 29, 2022•32 min•Ep. 85
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Hans Noel joins Julia and James to talk about political parties. Noel is an associate professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University, where he conducts research on political coalitions, political parties, and ideology. He is the author of Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America , and a co-author of The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform . Noel also blogs on political parties at Mischie...
Jul 14, 2022•41 min•Ep. 84
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , E.J. Dionne and Miles Rapoport join Lee to discuss their new book, 100% Voting: The Case for Universal Voting . Dionne writes about politics for The Washington Post . He is also a government professor at Georgetown University, a visiting professor at Harvard University, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a frequent commentator on politics for National Public Radio and MSNBC. Rapoport is Senior Practice Fellow in...
Jul 06, 2022•31 min•Ep. 83
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Julia, Lee, and James discuss the Supreme Court and democratic legitimacy in front of a live audience at The Washington Center in Washington, D.C. How does public opinion influence the Supreme Court? What role does the Court play in the federal government? Is it the ultimate arbiter of controversial policy questions? And should it be reformed? These are some of the questions Julia, Lee, and James discuss in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecas...
Jun 22, 2022•43 min•Ep. 82
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question , Jonathan Bydlak joins James to talk about the federal budget. Bydlak is director of the Governance Program at the R Street Institute , where he also oversees the Fiscal and Budget Policy project and the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group. Why does the federal government budget like it doesn’t care about the future? How will events like the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, and inflation impact the United States’ fiscal health. And what will it ...
Apr 26, 2022•32 min•Ep. 81
