Politics and Polls

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 President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. He also played a critical role in Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 campaign and President Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign and is currently working on Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign. Benenson was named “Pollster of the Year” by the American Association of Political Consultants. He previously worked as a journalist for the New York Daily News, communications director for Governor Cuomo, and vice president at FCB, a global advertising agency.

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 other taxes, such as the sales tax and payroll taxes, make the tax system regressive as a whole. Saez is a professor in the Department of Economics and the director of the Center of Economic Growth at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty, he was an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University. His research focuses on taxation, redistribution, and inequality. Jointly with economist Thomas Piketty, Saez has constructed long-run historical series of income inequality in the U.S. that have been widely discussed in the public debate.

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. Appelbaum is The New York Times Editorial Board’s lead writer on business and economics. Prior to joining the Board this year, he was a Washington correspondent for the Times, covering the Federal Reserve and other aspects of economic policy from 2001 to 2009. Appelbaum previously worked for the Charlotte Observer, where his reporting on subprime lending won a George Polk Award and a Gerald Loeb Award. He also was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.

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-frisk policing and no-knock warrants, and media coverage of black youth and crime. Suddler is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Emory University. Prior to joining to Emory faculty this year, Suddler was an assistant professor of African American history at Florida Atlantic University and a postdoctoral fellow at the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference at Emory. His research focuses on the intersections of youth, race, and crime and on the consequences of inequity in the United States. Suddler is also a contributing writer for the Conversation and Bleacher Report and has published work in the Journal of American History, Journal of African American History, American Studies Journal, and The Washington Post.

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. Glickman is the Stephen and Evalyn Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He has authored four books, including “Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America.” Prior to joining the Cornell faculty in 2014, Glickman was the Carolina Trustee Professor and chair of the Department of History at the University of South Carolina. He has written on public affairs for Boston Review, Dissent, and other publications.

The media has come under increasing attack over the past few years. While the adversarial relationship between past presidents and the media is not new, some have argued that President Trump has gone further than his predecessors by targeting specific journalists and using language meant to incite violence. As accusations of “fake news” grow, many are paying close attention to how media outlets cover the current administration. Jim Acosta of CNN joins Julian Zelizer in this episode to discuss his experiences covering the Trump administration’s first two years in office. His new book, “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America” examines the recent attacks and death threats against Acosta and other members of the press corps, the roles of former Press Secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and media coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Acosta gave a public talk at Princeton on Sept. 23. Acosta is CNN’s chief White House correspondent, currently covering the Trump administration and previously covering the Obama administration. He has received several awards, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists 2017 Presidential Award and the San Jose State University Journalism School 2018 William Randolph Hearst Foundation Award, and was a part of the CNN team that won an Emmy for their 2012 presidential campaign coverage. Prior to joining CNN in 2007, Acosta reported as a news correspondent for CBS News, CBS Newspath, and various local radio stations.

The media has come under increasing attack over the past few years. While the adversarial relationship between past presidents and the media is not new, some have argued that President Trump has gone further than his predecessors by targeting specific journalists and using language meant to incite violence. As accusations of “fake news” grow, many are paying close attention to how media outlets cover the current administration. Jim Acosta of CNN joins Julian Zelizer in this episode to discuss his experiences covering the Trump administration’s first two years in office. His new book, “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America” examines the recent attacks and death threats against Acosta and other members of the press corps, the roles of former Press Secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and media coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Acosta gave a public talk at Princeton on Sept. 23. Acosta is CNN’s chief White House correspondent, currently covering the Trump administration and previously covering the Obama administration. He has received several awards, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists 2017 Presidential Award and the San Jose State University Journalism School 2018 William Randolph Hearst Foundation Award, and was a part of the CNN team that won an Emmy for their 2012 presidential campaign coverage. Prior to joining CNN in 2007, Acosta reported as a news correspondent for CBS News, CBS Newspath, and various local radio stations.

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.

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 chosen by Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 as the pre-read selection for the Class of 2023. Williams joined Eisgruber and other faculty (including Wang) at a Sept. 9 book talk. The recipient of the inaugural Cambridge University “Nine Dots Prize” for original thinking in 2017, Williams recently completed his doctoral work in philosophy at Oxford University. Before that, he worked for Google as a technology and business strategist. He also is a co-founder of the Time Well Spent campaign, a project that aims to steer technology design toward having greater respect for users’ attention, goals, and values. His writing about the philosophy and ethics of technology has been published in The Observer, WIRED, and other publications.

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 books discuss how digital media is transforming the work of political advocacy and activist organizations. His writing about digital media and politics has been published in a wide range of academic and journalistic outlets, including The Nation, Nonprofit Quarterly, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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 Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. Author of numerous books, he’s also received many awards, including the Free Software Foundation’s Freedom Award, Fastcase 50 Award and was named one of Scientific American’s Top 50 Visionaries.

History is rife with examples of people behaving badly, sometimes with truly evil intent. Yet noted scholar Nicholas Christakis argues that humans are actually wired for goodness. His recent book, “Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society,” makes the case for what he calls a “social blueprint for goodness,” which he discusses with Sam Wang and Julian Zelizer in this episode. A physician and sociologist, Christakis directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University and is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science in the Departments of Sociology, Medicine, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Statistics and Data Science, and Biomedical Engineering. Nicholas was named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and one of Foreign Policy magazine’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.”

Silicon Valley has emerged as the epicenter of technological innovation within the American economy. Yet, people often know little about the region’s origins and how it grew to become an influential force behind new innovations in society. Margaret O’Mara joins Julian Zelizer to discuss her new book, “The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America,” which addresses the history behind the development of Silicon Valley. O’Mara is the Howard & Frances Keller Professor of History at the University of Washington. Her previous books include “Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley” and “Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Elections That Shaped the Twentieth Century.” Before becoming a professor, O’Mara was a contributing researcher at the Brookings Institution in the Clinton White House.

This week’s show is special: We’ve swapped episodes with Democracy Works, a podcast produced by Penn State University’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy. (They ran an episode of ours last week.) As the definition of neoliberalism contrasts among many individuals, Wendy Brown joins this episode to talk about what neoliberalism is, not only on an economic level, but also on a social and political level. Brown addresses the influence of neoliberalism on democratic societies in her most recent book, “In the Ruins of Neoliberalism,” a follow up to her 2015 book, “Undoing the Demos.” Democracy Works is hosted by Michael Berkman, professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, along with Christopher Beem, managing director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy. Brown is the Class of 1936 First Chair at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also teaches political theory. She received her Ph.D. in political philosophy from Princeton University in 1983. Her research interests include the history of political theory, 19th- and 20th-century Continental theory, critical theory, and theories of contemporary capitalism. Democracy Works addresses a wide range of issues involving democracy and is meant for “people coming together to build things that are greater than the sum of their parts.” The podcast is recorded at WPSU Penn State, central Pennsylvania’s NPR station.

In the 1980s, supply-side economics became a rallying cry of conservative politicians. This macroeconomic theory posits that lower taxes and decreased regulation can lead to economic growth, helping everyone on the income ladder as benefits to the rich “trickle down” to those less well-off. Monica Prasad joins Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang in this episode to discuss her new book, “Starving the Beast: Ronald Reagan and the Tax Cut Revolution.” Referencing archival documents from the Regan Library in Simi Valley, California, the book investigates President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 supply-side tax cut, offering a new understanding of how it has influenced today’s political landscape and what the true motivators are for the most recent round of tax cuts. Prasad is a professor of sociology and director of graduate studies at Northwestern University. Her previous books include “The Land of Too Much,” “The Politics of Free Markets” and “The New Fiscal Sociology.”