Podcasts about The Cook Political Report

When we booked this episode with Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer several weeks back, our plan was to talk about the Democrats and their strategy and messaging around Trump - something Dan's been writing about for his Substack, Message Box. Should Democrats just focus on the economy? Should they raise alarm bells over deportations? How loudly and strongly should they push back against Trump?And we do discuss that, but as it turned out, there was a lot more to talk about with Dan. For one, as a former Obama senior adviser, Amy wanted to ask his thoughts on the new reporting coming out about Joe Biden's health and how his inner circle worked to conceal it. In addition to that, we received an important report from the data firm Catalist about 2024 voters, shedding more light on why Kamala Harris lost and Donald Trump won. As a fellow data nerd, I knew Dan would be ready to dive into it.We recorded this on Wednesday, May 21st.You can watch our entire conversation on our YouTube channel.Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upLearn more about The Cook Political Report: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Jasmine Wright of NOTUS join Laura Barrón-López to discuss the latest political news, including lawmakers hearing from constituents about President Trump’s big domestic policy bill passed by House Republicans, the president's attacks on the judiciary and young Democrats running for office. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Jasmine Wright of NOTUS join Laura Barrón-López to discuss the latest political news, including lawmakers hearing from constituents about President Trump’s big domestic policy bill passed by House Republicans, the president's attacks on the judiciary and young Democrats running for office. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Rahm Emanuel has held many titles: Congressman from Illinois, DCCC Chairman, Chief of Staff to Barack Obama, Mayor of Chicago, and Ambassador to Japan under President Biden.These days, he doesn't have an official position at the moment. But that's not stopping him from giving some very pointed advice to Democrats on every possible platform: cable TV, political shows, podcasts, late night TV, and different political conferences.So how does Rahm Emanuel think Democrats should be responding to Trump 2.0? How does the party recover from 2024 and prepare for 2028? What does a successful midterm strategy look like in 2026? And given his own, let's say, active media schedule, what are his own plans for the future?He came on to talk to Amy about all that.We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, May 14th. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upLearn more about The Cook Political Report: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including former President Biden’s cancer diagnosis has led to an outpouring of sympathy but comes at a time of renewed questions about the full picture of his health during his presidency and the battle on Capitol Hill over President Trump's budget plan. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including former President Biden’s cancer diagnosis has led to an outpouring of sympathy but comes at a time of renewed questions about the full picture of his health during his presidency and the battle on Capitol Hill over President Trump's budget plan. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including former President Biden’s cancer diagnosis has led to an outpouring of sympathy but comes at a time of renewed questions about the full picture of his health during his presidency and the battle on Capitol Hill over President Trump's budget plan. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

You may know our guest today, Josh Holmes, as one of the hosts of the popular political podcast, Ruthless.For those of you who don't know, Ruthless is to the conservative media sphere as Pod Save America is to the liberal media ecosystem.But long before he started his podcasting gig, Amy knew Josh as a Republican political operative.He was chief of staff to Mitch McConnell and ran his 2014 re-election campaign. He also had a stint at the National Republican Senate Committee. He now runs the public affairs firm, Cavalry, and he's still actively giving advice to Republican candidates.Josh's two roles as a member of the new media and a seasoned Republican political hand gives him unique perspective into our current political era. This conversation spans a similar gamut from what advice he'd give to down ballot Republicans for the upcoming midterms to his thoughts on the Trump tariff endgame. Josh also talks about how candidates can best navigate the new media landscape.We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, May 7th. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upLearn more about The Cook Political Report: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including a pause in President Trump's trade war with China and the president's trip to the Middle East. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Hotline editor Kirk Bado and Cook Political Report with Amy Walter founder Charlie Cook handicap the midterm elections and discuss the political dynamics of incumbents facing younger primary challengers.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including a pause in President Trump's trade war with China and the president's trip to the Middle East. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including a pause in President Trump's trade war with China and the president's trip to the Middle East. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including President Trump's recent interviews have sparked as many questions as they have answers, who voters believe is responsible for the current economic direction and Trump getting attention for posting about Alcatraz and foreign film tariffs. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including President Trump's recent interviews have sparked as many questions as they have answers, who voters believe is responsible for the current economic direction and Trump getting attention for posting about Alcatraz and foreign film tariffs. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including President Trump's recent interviews have sparked as many questions as they have answers, who voters believe is responsible for the current economic direction and Trump getting attention for posting about Alcatraz and foreign film tariffs. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First, President Trump marked his 100th day in office earlier this week – but ever wonder where that benchmark came from? We'll find out with presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky. Then, Cook Political Report's David Wasserman discusses his analysis of the electorate and shifts in political polarization. It's actually getting better . Finally, a brand new poll shows young Americans losing faith in government institutions and in leaders of BOTH parties. We'll dig into the results with Jordan Schwartz - student chair of the Harvard Youth Poll. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder how Beltway insiders assess which congressional seats are potential flips, and therefore worth a cash infusion?  Since the late 1990s, a favorite tool for pros has been the Cook Political Report's PVI — the Partisan Voter Index. Today, Henry catches up with Dave Wasserman to look into how the PVI is calculated and to […]

Ever wonder how Beltway insiders assess which congressional seats are potential flips, and therefore worth a cash infusion?  Since the late 1990s, a favorite tool for pros has been the Cook Political Report’s PVI — the Partisan Voter Index. Today, Henry catches up with Dave Wasserman to look into how the PVI is calculated and to […]

Ever wonder how Beltway insiders assess which congressional seats are potential flips, and therefore worth a cash infusion?  Since the late 1990s, a favorite tool for pros has been the Cook Political Report’s PVI — the Partisan Voter Index. Today, Henry catches up with Dave Wasserman to look into how the PVI is calculated and to […]

At the 100-day mark of Trump's second term, his approval ratings are the lowest for any newly elected president in over 50 years and economic warning signs are pointing toward a recession. This should be a clear sign that Democrats will be successful in the 2026 election as they try to flip the House, but infighting might be getting in their way. This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Dave Wasserman. He's the senior editor and elections analyst for the non-partisan Cook Political Report. Email us! ⁠thegaggle@arizonarepublic.com⁠ Leave us a voicemail: 602-444-0804 Follow us on ⁠X,⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Tik Tok⁠. Guest: Dave Wasserman, senior editor & election analyst at Cook Political Report Hosts: ⁠Ron Hansen⁠, ⁠Mary Jo Pitzl⁠  Producer: ⁠Amanda Luberto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are 100 days into the second Trump administration and there's no better person to help us understand what voters are making of these first months of Trump 2.0 than Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.Kristen is a founding partner of Echelon Insights, an opinion research and analytics firm. She's a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and an on air political contributor at CNN.Quick disclaimer: we taped this conversation on Thursday, April 24th, before the flurry of 100 day polls were released this past weekend. That's why you won't hear us asking her about these polls. But the reason we wanted to have Kristen on in the first place was that we didn't want to get caught up in the immediate set of data. We wanted Kristen to do what she does best which is to filter the signal from the noise, present a 30,000 view of the political environment rather than focusing on the minutiae or just small movements in data. What we like about Kristen so much is that she's able to to toggle seamlessly between reading cross tabs but also probing voters in focus groups and really listening to what they are saying or not saying, and then explaining it to regular people in a way that is approachable but not condescending.That's why we were especially excited to talk with her about a presidency as complicated and unprecedented as Trump's.Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upLearn more about The Cook Political Report: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including analysis of the first 100 days of President Trump's second term, where he stands in polls and what’s ahead for Democrats. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including analysis of the first 100 days of President Trump's second term, where he stands in polls and what’s ahead for Democrats. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including analysis of the first 100 days of President Trump's second term, where he stands in polls and what’s ahead for Democrats. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

MIRS' podcast host Samantha Shriber kicks things off with several news updates. For example, the state Senate last week approved bills creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB), required to investigate high drug costs and authorized to set price caps (:55).  Moreover, MIRS discussed Michigan politics last week with Dave Wasserman, the Cook Political Report's senior editor and elections analyst (11:10).  He talks about Democrats' progressive U.S. Senate candidates, and how D.C. and Michigan folk differ when it comes to hot takes on U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. 

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including the Trump administration’s deportation agenda is causing some fractures among Democrats as they consider if and how to respond and the controversy surrounding Defense Secretary Hegseth. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including the Trump administration’s deportation agenda is causing some fractures among Democrats as they consider if and how to respond and the controversy surrounding Defense Secretary Hegseth. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including the Trump administration’s deportation agenda is causing some fractures among Democrats as they consider if and how to respond and the controversy surrounding Defense Secretary Hegseth. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Way back in the late 1990s, Cook Political Report founder Charlie Cook had an idea to rank all 435 congressional districts by their partisanship - in other words, whether a district is more Republican or more Democratic.That way, we'd be able to see, at a quick glance, which members of Congress represented districts that were either slightly or strongly partisan. For example, is a certain Republican representative in a very solid Republican seat…. or in one that is only slightly red… or even one that was blue or blue leaning?Thus was born the Cook PVI, which stands for Partisan Voting Index. And since 1998, CPR has released a new addition every two years.This admittedly very geeky undertaking is also something we get really excited about because it cannot only tell us the partisanship of every district, but with more than 25 years of data, we can see how districts have shifted over the years. The person behind the Cook PVI and how it all works is David Wasserman, The Cook Political Report's senior editor and elections analyst.We invited him on to explain what the Cook PVI is, how we calculate it, what we learned from it for 2025, and what it may tell us about elections in 2026. We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, April 9th. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upRead Dave's Cook PVI analysis: https://www.cookpolitical.com/cook-pvi/introducing-2025-cook-partisan-voting-index-slightly-depolarizing-electionLearn more about The Cook Political Report: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including the political fallout from the Trump administration's tariff policies and intra-party fighting that seems to be breaking out with both Democrats and Republicans. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including the political fallout from the Trump administration's tariff policies and intra-party fighting that seems to be breaking out with both Democrats and Republicans. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including the political fallout from the Trump administration's tariff policies and intra-party fighting that seems to be breaking out with both Democrats and Republicans. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including the political fallout from President Trump's decision to double down on his tariffs and if Democrats can capitalize on the weekend protests against Trump's policies. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including the political fallout from President Trump's decision to double down on his tariffs and if Democrats can capitalize on the weekend protests against Trump's policies. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including the political fallout from President Trump's decision to double down on his tariffs and if Democrats can capitalize on the weekend protests against Trump's policies. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including two key congressional seats up for grabs in Florida, Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race breaks records and President Trump openly talks about staying in office for a third term. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Editor-in-chief Jeff Dufour and Cook Political Report with Amy Walter founder Charlie Cook discuss Rep. Elise Stefanik's return to the House, the off-year governor races, and potential primary challenges to Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Episodes of National Journal Radio are also avail­able on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including two key congressional seats up for grabs in Florida, Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race breaks records and President Trump openly talks about staying in office for a third term. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including two key congressional seats up for grabs in Florida, Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race breaks records and President Trump openly talks about staying in office for a third term. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including Trump officials accidentally share war plans with a journalist, how Republicans are responding to the breach and thousands attend rallies by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as Democrats try to find a footing in opposing Trump. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including Trump officials accidentally share war plans with a journalist, how Republicans are responding to the breach and thousands attend rallies by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as Democrats try to find a footing in opposing Trump. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Back in the 2012 cycle, Chauncey McLean was a young staffer on the Obama campaign working in the newly developing field of data analytics.Six years later, McLean put those data science skills - and the ones he developed while working in the private sector testing ads for commercial products - to work as head of the Democratic super PAC, Future Forward.Most outside super PACs like these do an extensive amount of polling and survey work and bring in multiple outside advisers to help manage and produce campaign ads and other material. What makes Future Forward unique is the tremendous amount of survey data and ad testing that they do. Its team of data scientists surveyed millions of voters and tested thousands of ads with the goal of finding and airing the ads that moved the needle the most with the voters.During 2024, the group poured more than $600 million dollars into ads that supported first Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris' campaign for president.At the end of the day, the Trump campaign's advertising and media strategy was more successful, particularly his ability to connect with younger men via social media platforms like podcasts and YouTube. As the Democratic party struggles to find its footing, we wanted to talk to Chauncey McLean about what he learned from Harris' loss and how Democratic groups like his are adapting to this fractured media environment going forward.We recorded the conversation on Wednesday, March 19th. To learn more about The Cook Political Report go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including members of the Democratic Party debating how to govern in the minority, how Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown and President Trump's latest approval ratings. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

We've been wanting to have Terrence Woodbury on the podcast for a long time.The reason is that he's a pollster who has done some amazing work with demographic groups that made a big difference in the presidential race last year, but also in previous cycles: Black voters, voters of color, and younger voters.And if many Democrats were surprised by the erosion in support among what they thought was a reliable Democratic base, Terrence has been observing this slide for years -- particularly among men of color, a group he calls the new swing voter. As a pollster to the Kamala Harris campaign, he and his company HIT Strategies, had a front row seat to how voters felt about Harris, Donald Trump, and the Democratic party as a whole.So we wanted to ask Terrance to discuss the results of the 2024 election, but also look forward to what he's hearing now from voters with Donald Trump in office and what he thinks the Democratic response should be to the Trump era.Terrence Woodbury is cofounder and president of HIT Strategies which is a public opinion research firm. We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, March 12. To learn more about The Cook Political Report go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including members of the Democratic Party debating how to govern in the minority, how Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown and President Trump's latest approval ratings. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including the government funding deadline and the potential political fallout and President Trump's concerns about a possible recession. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Henry and The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter reconvene after Donald Trump’s address before Congress. They wonder how Tuesday’s performance will play with the voters outside Trump’s base who won him the election; consider the risks attendant to his coalition in making moves on Ukraine and tariffs; and think through partisan mandate strategy in a country […]

Last year, as March Madness kicked into gear, there was one athlete everyone seemed to be talking about: Caitlin Clark. The then University of Iowa guard was on her way to leading her team to the NCAA finals, selling out stadiums everywhere she went and creating an unprecedented level of excitement around women's basketball. This interest followed her to the WNBA when she signed with the Indiana Fever.Our guest, USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan, is writing a book about Caitlin Clark called On Her Game, which tells the story of Clark's rise to become the most famous female team sport athlete in history.Christine has been a long-time chronicler and advocate for women in sports. She's also deeply interested in politics and has a keen understanding and appreciation for how sports and politics intersect.We wanted to have Christine on to help tell the story of how laws like Title IX helped pave the way for a phenom like Caitlin Clark. And we also wanted Christine to reflect on where we are today when it comes to politics, sports and gender.These three topics have always been intertwined in our culture, but the Trump era has brought it to a different level. In Trump's first few weeks in office alone he appeared at the Super Bowl and signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women's athletics. We also had Canadians booing the U.S. national anthem at an international hockey game in response to Trump's tariff threats as well as his references to annexing our northern neighbor.Christine Brennan is an award-winning national sports columnist for USA Today. She's a commentator for CNN, ABC News, and PBS NewsHour. Her book about Caitlin Clark is available right now for preorder on Amazon. It will be available wherever books are sold in early July.Pre-order Christine Brennan's book: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Game-Caitlin-Revolution-Womens/dp/1668090198Learn more about The Cook Political Report: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including the fallout from President Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and analysis of the latest PBS News poll. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including Republicans facing boisterous town halls amid President Trump's and Elon Musk's federal workforce cuts, Democratic lawmakers encounter frustrated voters, Trump's approval ratings and the upcoming budget fight in Congress. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders