Claim OwnershipThe Focus Group Podcast
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© Bulwark Media
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Unfiltered, uncompromising, unexpected—The Focus Group is a look into what the average voter thinks about politics, policy, and current events. Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, has conducted hundreds of hours of focus groups all across the country. She and a series of special guests will take you behind the glass to hear what real focus group participants have to say.
https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast/focus-group/
96 Episodes
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Five years ago this week, the COVID-19 pandemic came to the United States, and with it a level of suffering and distrust of authority (and each other) that we haven't fully reckoned with. Indeed, the pandemic was a major factor in what made Donald Trump's political comeback possible. Dr. Leana Wen, public health expert and author of the Washington Post newsletter The Checkup with Dr. Wen joins Sarah to discuss the lessons learned from the pandemic, how it changed Americans, and its implications for the future of public health.
Show notes:
The Checkup with Dr. Wen
This show is #sponsored by OneSkin. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code THEFOCUSGROUP at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod
1Trump shouted down Zelensky in the Oval Office last week, and many pro-Ukraine Trump voters wished it hadn't happened like that...publicly, at least. So, we wondered, what did the remaining pro-Ukraine Republicans think of America's role in the world? Pod Save America and Pod Save the World host Tommy Vietor joins Sarah to discuss the future of foreign policy in Trump 2.0.
We're doing something a bit different this week: We're giving you nearly an hour of audio from a recent focus group of men aged 18-29 who voted for Donald Trump in 2024. We get into everyone's media diets, what they think of Elon and Trump, and how the culture talks to young men today. You don't want to miss it.
It seems like Elon Musk is running America right now. SOME people in our focus groups don't like it all that much. Legendary tech reporter and Musk-whisperer Kara Swisher joins the show to discuss Musk's MAGA character arc and what his real motivations are with DOGE.
Show notes:
Pivot with Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway
On with Kara Swisher
Burn Book: A Tech Love Story
Plenty of the newest Donald Trump voters wanted him to fix the border, and to deport criminals. Some are excited by what they're seeing, and some are getting more than they bargained for. Bulwark immigration correspondent Adrian Carrasquillo joins Sarah to discuss voter reactions, and the latest developments in Trump's immigration regime.
By Adrian Carrasquillo:
The Border Debate Is Over. Dems Lost.
Inside Trump World’s Plans To Gloss Up Mass Deportations
Trump’s Deportation Dragnet Widens and Puerto Ricans Are Getting Caught in It
Trump Wants to ‘End’ Sanctuary Cities. This Mayor Has a Different Idea.
Trump Turns Schools Into an Immigration Battleground
Where do Democratic voters want the party to go next? And just as importantly, how does the party need to be thinking differently? Adam Jentleson, former chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman and aide to Sen. Harry Reid, joins Sarah to discuss the kind of thinking hampering current Democratic elected officials and staff, and they discuss some new ways to campaign and govern as the party looks toward 2026 and 2028.
By Adam Jentleson:
New York Times Guest Essay: When Will Democrats Learn to Say No?
Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy
Donald Trump's approval rating is sitting around 50 percent, which is as high as he's ever been, even though he started his term by pardoning January 6 rioters, causing mass confusion across the government, and claiming that DEI caused a plane crash. The voters we talked to in our focus groups are just glad to see someone "taking action." Bulwark managing editor Sam Stein joins Sarah to talk about voters' reactions to Trump's flurry of executive orders (including the January 6 pardons), and how long Trump's "honeymoon" may last.
Anyone who opposes Donald Trump isn't feeling great this week. And where there was "resistance" when Trump took office in 2017, there was more resignation among the voters we talked to this week as he began his second term. Bulwark alum Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy joins Sarah to talk about what we should (and should not) be focused on over the next four years.
As Joe Biden leaves office, we're taking one last look at his presidency, and what we've heard said about him since 2020. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos joins Sarah to recap his interviews with Biden over the years and discusses his legacy.
Sponsor: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code THEFOCUSGROUP at https://www.oneskin.co/
Show notes:
By Evan Osnos:
Joe Biden's Last Campaign
Joe Biden: The Life, the Presidency, and What Matters Now
Wildland: The Making of America's Fury
The podcast-sphere was one of the most covered stories of the 2024 election, with Joe Rogan standing above all. Podcaster extraordinaires Sarah and Tim turn over why this medium is appealing to the newest Trump voters (specifically the Rogan fans), and what our new long-form world means for the future of politics.
We've spent plenty of time on this show discussing what Donald Trump's newest voters found wanting about Democrats in the 2024 election. This week, we're turning our attention to their affirmative case for Trump. The Bulwark's MAGA-world correspondent, Marc Caputo joins Sarah to hear them out.
show notes
The NYT's DealBook summit Sarah referenced
Harvard Kennedy School's recent election forum that Marc referenced
We've got (Thanksgiving) leftover focus group sound we didn't get to last week. Sarah's best friend Jonathan V. Last makes his vengeful return to the show to work through his thoughts (and the voters' thoughts) on the 2024 election, and he and Sarah parry over just how serious this country is anymore. It gets spicy.
The Focus Group Podcast is back for a post-election autopsy. We're starting with a deep dive on how Donald Trump's newest voters found Kamala Harris and the Democrats lacking. Astead Herndon, host of The New York Times podcast The Run-Up joins Sarah to write a first draft of how we got here.
show notes
The Run-Up: The Democrats' Plan to Get Skeptics on Their Side
The Run-Up: Kamala Harris on Kamala Harris
The Bulwark's Bleak Friday Sale
The polls are close enough that this election could go either way. But whatever happens, the focus groups over the last year-plus have given some clues about what's motivating the swing voters voting for Trump, and those voting for Harris. Atlantic senior editor Ron Brownstein joins Sarah to listen to voters and what the Trump and Harris coalitions might look like.
show notes
By Ron Brownstein:
The Democratic Theory of Winning With Less
The Improbable Coalition That Is Harris’s Best Hope
There's one thing Republican and Democratic strategists all agree on right now: no state is more likely to decide this election than Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania-based POLITICO reporter Holly Otterbein joins Sarah to break down Pennsylvania's shift to the right in recent years, and why Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is finding himself in a surprisingly close race.
Show Notes:
Spotlight PA: Democrats in Pa. approach 2024 election with slimmest voter registration advantage in decades
By Holly Otterbein:
Harris ramps up her appeals to Republican voters in the Philly suburbs
‘Pennsylvania is such a mess’: Inside Team Harris’ unusual levels of finger-pointing
Dems see warning signs for Harris with Latino men in Pennsylvania
Donald Trump may well win both Arizona and Nevada, but Republican Senate candidates there are on the struggle bus. Jon Ralston of the Nevada Independent joins to break down Sarah's recent focus groups with PBS in Nevada, and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez of the Washington Post discusses Arizona's abortion rights referendum and Kari Lake's comeback attempt in the U.S. Senate race.
Editor's note: This episode was taped before the October 17 release of Ruben and Kate Gallego's divorce records.
Michigan and Wisconsin aren't just presidential battlegrounds; their Senate races are getting more competitive down the stretch. So how are swing voters thinking about their options?
Craig Gilbert, former DC bureau chief for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Craig Mauger, political reporter for the Detroit News, join Sarah to break down the electoral landscape in the upper midwest.
Show notes:
By Craig Gilbert: What polling tells us about Wisconsin's undecided voters
The Bulwark's Swing State Swing
The pundit class thought JD Vance performed better than Tim Walz in the vice presidential debate. Voters thought Vance was a good performer, but they couldn't quite shake their skepticism. Puck News's John Heilemann joins Sarah to review voters' reactions to the VP debate and the history of VP picks more broadly.
Some of today's first-time voters were 10 years old when Donald Trump launched his first presidential campaign, so he's all they've known in politics. That's certainly affected how they look at politics, across the political spectrum. Puck's Peter Hamby joins Sarah to discuss the youth vote in the home stretch of the 2024 election.
show notes
September 2024 Harvard Youth Poll
By Peter:
The Left’s Trumpnesia Problem
Kamala’s Generation Gap
The Swift-Rogan Election
Sarah recently sat down with Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger on their podcast Possible to talk about the future of politics, the origins of her focus group work, and how artificial intelligence might impact that work.
https://possible.fm/podcast
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This episode was so hard to listen to. These fellas clearly "did their research" in the MAGA echo chamber in addition to being too naive about life.
Sara, in your episode with Sam Stein you remarked that talking about transgenders (and gays?) to small kids is inappropriate. You are completely wrong: from knowing some transgenders and gays (one of my sons is gay) and talking to them I LEARNED that most already know that they are different than their friends, or that they are not really of the gender by which they are addressed already at a very young age - by as young as three years old!!!
I know this isn't the way focus groups work, but I just wanted to jump into the podcast to press these people to articulate just exactly how they would enumerate "Trump policies" and "Republican principles". All I heard was "this is your brain on Fox", aped talking point after aped talking point.
I'm curious - is there any kind of sociological study that shows the overlap between GOP voters and irrational/conspiratorial thought? just seems that when a Democrat loses an election, Democratic voters are not anywhere near as predestined to default to this argument of a rigged election.