The Best Politics Podcasts to Help You Make Sense of the 2020 Election
This is a strange and confusing election year—to put it mildly. It seems impossible to fathom how the spread of COVID-19, protests for racial justice across the country and a vacant Supreme Court seat will factor into who wins on November 3. And many questions remain unanswered: Should you vote in person or by mail? What does the fact that so many pollsters and pundits predicted a Clinton win in 2016 mean for Joe Biden’s poll numbers in 2020?
Dozens of excellent podcasts strive to offer answers and context. They fact-check the candidates’ statements. They explain what is happening in the news and why it matters. And they obsessively track the polls, while pressing upon listeners that they shouldn’t let leads in the race determine whether or not they actually decide to head to the voting booth (or put a stamp on their ballots). Some feature journalists who have reported on Donald Trump and Joe Biden for years, if not decades. Others rely on the expertise of advisors who worked on presidential campaigns for Barack Obama or John McCain for insight into the 2020 race.
These are just some of the best shows that you ought to tune into to keep up with the breakneck pace of political news headed into what will likely be one of the most complicated and impactful elections in American history
Ever since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, the Washington Post’s Alison Michaels has interviewed other Post reporters about the powers—and limits—granted to the American president. In the run-up to the election, the show has turned its attention to essential questions such as: What is the president’s power over the USPS? What sort of pressure can he exert over the FDA in the race toward a coronavirus vaccine? And how much federal force can the president use against protestors? Given President Trump’s fondness for executive orders, the answers will be crucial to understanding the 2020 election and how the powers of the president may be exercised in the future.
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