The Bulwark
The Focus Group with Sarah Longwell
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The Bulwark
The Focus Group with Sarah LongwellEpisodes
The Bulwark
The Focus Group with Sarah Longwell
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On this week's episode, we're sharing a director's cut of a recent focus group, featuring swing state suburban women. These voters from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia backed Trump in 2016, but flipped in 2020. Hear what they have to say about
As primary season winds down, Democrats are gaining ground in what was supposed to be a wave year for Republicans. Tim Miller joins Sarah to discuss the anti-abortion extremists endorsed by Trump, how Democrats are making Dobbs a game-changer,
Florida is the center of Republican politics these days — and it's getting redder all the time. Trump lives there, and his political understudy is the governor. Marc Caputo of NBC News — the best Florida Man in the political press corps — joins
Trump is trying to end Lisa Murkowski's Senate career, but Alaska's new ranked choice voting may well save her. Plus, focus group participants keep bringing up abortion, and another Alaskan, Sarah Palin, is attempting a political comeback. Bill
Wisconsinites are embarrassed to have Ron Johnson as their senator, but does that mean progressive Mandela Barnes has a good shot at the seat? Buckle up, the matchup promises to be one of the dirtiest campaigns of the midterms. Plus, another ch
MAGA conspiracy theorist Kari Lake is poised to win her GOP primary, and has a good shot at becoming the governor of Arizona. Plus, impeachment voter Peter Meijer fends off a primary challenge, as a crazy cast of Michigan Republicans attempt to
Trump voters are ready to take on and take out Liz Cheney, as well as fellow Trump impeachment supporters Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse. The New Yorker's Susan Glasser joins Sarah to discuss tribalism, "Wyoming Values," and Cheney bein
Voters who came age in the Trump era have a dark view of politics, their country, and the future. Peter Hamby, host of Snapchat’s “Good Luck America” and founder of Puck News, joins Sarah to talk about what voters under 30 are thinking.Learn m
The only thing Americans can agree on is how much they hate each other. David Axelrod, the mastermind behind President Obama's 2008 campaign, joins Sarah to talk about just how deep our divide goes, and where it might take America from hereLea
The voters who abandoned Trump have been analyzed at length, but the Democrats weren’t the only ones who persuaded Americans to switch sides in 2020. Holding onto these voters will be crucial for future Republican victories. Amy Walter, Publish
We had planned to focus this episode on the January 6 Committee hearings. Sarah and Amanda talk about that, but something strange also happened in our last two groups: zero Trump voters wanted him to run in 2024. We talk about the hearings, how
Ready or not, the 2024 election is right around the corner. Donald Trump is set up to run again, and the official line in the White House is that Joe Biden is running. What do our focus groups think of that redux, and who they think their other
The Supreme Court’s leaked opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade may or may not impact the midterm elections. We talked to a group of swing voters (women from swing states who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020), and they weren’t happy
We’re taking stock after a wild run of May primaries. We laughed, we cried, and we saw enemies (and friends) of democracy notch wins.The Bulwark’s Will Saletan joins Sarah to break down what our focus groups got right, and Sarah takes a victor
A devil has the Republican Party’s soul, but not all of his endorsed candidates are faring too well. In Georgia, former Sen. David Perdue is losing badly to Gov. Brian Kemp despite Trump’s endorsement, and Rep. Mo Brooks was polling so badly in
The Pennsylvania Senate race might just be the craziest of 2022. There’s a Bernie guy who looks like a Trump guy (Lt. Gov. John Fetterman) and a Trump guy who looks like a Biden guy (Dave McCormick). There’s also Doctor Oz and an ultra-ultra-M
Sarah has Covid, so we're doing something a little different this week. Rather than bring on a guest and combine analysis with clips from focus groups, we're giving you an hour of unfiltered audio from North Carolina and Alabama Trump voters.W
Folks: it’s primary season! The Ohio U.S. Senate primary is tomorrow, and it’s been…less than nice. Two candidates had to be physically separated at a recent debate. Now, Trump has picked his horse in the race…listen to hear what the voters thi
In 2024, we may be re-running the 2020 election with two very unpopular and very old candidates. Seems like a good time for a viable third party option, right?Former presidential candidate and founder of the Forward Party Andrew Yang joins Sar
Supreme Court nominations are polarizing nowadays, and President Biden’s nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was no exception. Dr. Ted Johnson of The Bulwark joins Sarah to discuss how voters reacted to Jackson (and to President Biden ple
Joe Biden’s approval rating is around 42%. That didn’t happen without Biden losing some of his own voters.Sarah sits down with President Obama’s former White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs to listen to some Biden voters talk about the sta
Most of the GOP hasn’t responded to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol with much courage.But our guest has.This week, Sarah talks with Rep. Adam Kinzinger about our focus groups’ reactions to the attacks (including the conspiracy theo
Donald Trump convinced about a third of the country that the 2020 election was rigged - this is commonly referred to as the “Big Lie.” It sure seems like a problem to Sarah.Ben Ginsberg, former legal counsel to the presidential campaigns of Ge
After over 2 years, the American people are over COVID — but is the pandemic over? CNN medical analyst and WaPo contributor Dr. Leana Wen joins Sarah to talk about how MAGA, Swing, and Dem voters are thinking about the COVID-19 Pandemic, everyt
We have…good news? Trump fans love Zelensky and hate Putin.You may remember Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from his testimony in President Trump’s first impeachment – the impeachment that happened because of a phone call with the now-historic Pre
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