Listen now (55 min) | 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 the big races in their states, their desire for things to be "normal" again, and how the end of Roe is influencing their vote this November.
Hearing the un curated raw content was way better than the normal show. Perhaps more of this going forward followed with some analysis vs the here’s my point, here are the selected sound bights to prove my point format. I don’t mind the opinion, I just want the option to form my own from the raw content.
The success of the “business man” lie was astounding with this group!
Hillary was mean and so they couldn’t vote for her. I’ve got news for these women, any woman seeking a powerful position, at least in this country, will be painted in a “mean” or some other derogatory light. Just ask Amy. Case in point, many state governors instituted covid lockdowns, why is Gretchen uniquely singled out for being onerous, oppressive and overstepping the bounds of HER authority. Hmmmm, let me ponder this question a bit whilst I peruse my playboy magazine collection. Oh, and also Stockholm syndrome is a thing.
I loved hearing the hand to hand combat in the room. The Georgia irs discussion alone was worth the time of listening to the whole pod.
Gee , the “you can vote for a third party” voice was insistent and I think ignorant of the fact she should be advocating for rank choice voting and that her votes in this system are wholly meaningless except for helping the repugnantcons with minority rule.
Hallelujah for the woman who pointed out Mick Jagger & Joe Biden are the same age. Ageism is the last permissable area of discrimination. I was bouyed by how even self-described 'pro-life' women didn't support the idea of government telling women what they can and can't do with their own bodies, especially from the "My body, my choice"(insert multiple eye roll emojis) anti-vax crowd. I don't think polls are reflecting how America women feel about rights we've had for 50 years being taken away.
Disappointed to hear how many of them offer "both sides" arguments. While there are certainly extremists on the Left, where do they really have much power? You get a few "defund the police" types in a few cities but they got slammed fairly quickly by reality and voters. The Squad isn't really effective or even that extreme. Biden and Dems need to attack the "both sides" arguments going into November.
I was surprised to hear how much the "laughing stock around the world" meme was shared. My impression was that most voters didn't really care about that. I guess I was wrong.
I rarely comment twice but this was just fabulous. I could tell that letting them cross-talk actually shifted some of those girls and God bless all of them.
I like the raw conversation. Thank God for the woman who called out the obnoxious ageism, and the woman who “does her own research” and her Ilk make me want to scream.
Several people talked about voting for Trump cause he was a business man - did you ask them if they new whether Trump was successful bc he was not. He was a failure as a business man and made money off bankruptcy and selling his name. He is a PR guy.
This was the best Focus Group podcast yet! I loved the moderator's calm but probing questions. I was surprised that these women voted for Trump in 2016 (recognizing that this was a requirement for eligibility in the group) but for most of them changing to support Biden in 2020 was based on wanting to support rational, competent, and sound government (which Biden has pursued for the most part) as opposed to the crazy, corrupt Trump circus. While I was a Hillary voter in 2016 and can't understand how any rational voter could have gone for Trump, I can be sympathetic to the economically conservative, socially liberal perspective, though I've never bought the argument that government should be run like a business. After all, I was an Obama 2008 - Romney 2012 voter. Above all, hearing the fear in these women of extreme policies being enacted in red states particularly with regard to abortion rights was striking. Hopefully, Democrats (the only Democracy Party) will listen to voters like this during the upcoming campaign!
I liked all of these participants and I get their 2016 thought process. I never supported Trump but I honestly believed he would at least TRY to be a serious President. But 24 hours in it was clear he was in it for nothing but himself and at no point did he even make the pretense of being presidential thereafter. EVERY speech he made regardless of topic or context was always about "I" "me" and "my" and self agrandizement.
So I get their perception and their change away in 2020.
BUT they kept harping on his business experience as a qualification which is objectively absurd. I think this is an impression formed from Trump's time on prime time television and bears no relationship to his actual business experience. As others have pointed out Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich man... and a non-business person's idea of a business success.
The one woman who lambasted everyone about Joe Biden's age was PHENOMENAL! More than that, you could tell that it was clear she knew her stuff about politics, her opinion carried a LOT of weight with the other participants. It was like they really didn't understand what was going behind the scenes, and now they do because she relayed a lot of TRUTH to them.
Finally, that one who said she disconnected from main stream media probably doesn't even know what main stream media actual is. Cable news is not main stream media in my opinion, but biased media. Local news, BBC, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC etc., is main stream media. CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and Newmax are all biased. So she "disconnected" herself from bias, to actual main stream media when she started following local news. You can't make this stuff up.
Loved this episode! I know it was just a handful of voters but I think they indicate that cross-over voting is going to be real thing this November. People seem to be scrutinizing candidates like they've not done in the past. Gives me hope.
The lady who hasn't gotten around to informing herself about the Republican and Democratic candidates because she's been too busy researching third party candidates made me want to start beating my head against the wall. Some kind soul should take her aside and tell her that if she really wants to waste her vote that badly, she's doing it wrong: it doesn't require all that work. And no, most of us don't realistically "have another choice", whatever she would like to believe. Reality is real.
On this podcast's format, it was really fascinating to hear how a focus group is conducted. But really, I can't take this much raw footage. I prefer aggregated data, a few particularly telling sound bites, and overwhelming rational and sane discussion with your excellent guest analysts.
On voting third party. I have voted third party in presidential elections 5 times, starting with John Anderson in my second presidential election, Ross Perot twice, Ralph Nader in 2000, and Jill Stein in 2012, just because I recognized that based on the state I live in it wasn't going to affect the outcome of the election, thanks to the Electoral College system. I always hated it when people would say things like a vote for Anderson was a vote for Reagan, or a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush. Not sure what the argument would be on votes for Perot and Stein, as Democrats won those 3 elections. Technically, my vote for Ralph Nader didn't elect George W. Bush (Utah's electoral college votes did, so it didn't really matter for whom I voted), but on the ballot in Florida, Nader did damage to Al Gore. Now my feeling is that it's a nice fantasy to think that a third party vote is a vote on principle, or a protest against the established 2 parties, and that it's going to make any difference. Obviously, I couldn't stand Bill Clinton, as I voted for Perot twice (who has done the best of all third party presidential candidates, but not even close to enough), and I wasn't crazy about Hillary; but regardless of how my state's electoral college votes were going to go, I wasn't taking any chances in 2016 and held my nose and voted for her. The Electoral College is an aberration that doesn't exist in state-wide elections, so the calculation with third parties there is very different. Consider Tea Party wins in 2010, 2012, as the most successful third party gambit at the state level. And in the end, they're really just far-right Republicans now. A voter needs to think really hard about from which main party candidate that third party candidate is siphoning votes. If you can't stomach the candidate who is likely to win, because 20%, 10%, even 5% of the electorate voted third party, then don't vote third party. Before I ever vote third party again, I want to be in a state with open primaries and ranked choice voting. Then I can vote for whom I want twice.
On money in politics, thank Citizens United. Rational campaign finance reform is out of reach.
Also surprising that several people mentioned that they were embarrassed by the fact that the disgraced ex-president had made us a laughingstock around the world.
Hearing the un curated raw content was way better than the normal show. Perhaps more of this going forward followed with some analysis vs the here’s my point, here are the selected sound bights to prove my point format. I don’t mind the opinion, I just want the option to form my own from the raw content.
The success of the “business man” lie was astounding with this group!
Hillary was mean and so they couldn’t vote for her. I’ve got news for these women, any woman seeking a powerful position, at least in this country, will be painted in a “mean” or some other derogatory light. Just ask Amy. Case in point, many state governors instituted covid lockdowns, why is Gretchen uniquely singled out for being onerous, oppressive and overstepping the bounds of HER authority. Hmmmm, let me ponder this question a bit whilst I peruse my playboy magazine collection. Oh, and also Stockholm syndrome is a thing.
I loved hearing the hand to hand combat in the room. The Georgia irs discussion alone was worth the time of listening to the whole pod.
Gee , the “you can vote for a third party” voice was insistent and I think ignorant of the fact she should be advocating for rank choice voting and that her votes in this system are wholly meaningless except for helping the repugnantcons with minority rule.
Hallelujah for the woman who pointed out Mick Jagger & Joe Biden are the same age. Ageism is the last permissable area of discrimination. I was bouyed by how even self-described 'pro-life' women didn't support the idea of government telling women what they can and can't do with their own bodies, especially from the "My body, my choice"(insert multiple eye roll emojis) anti-vax crowd. I don't think polls are reflecting how America women feel about rights we've had for 50 years being taken away.
Disappointed to hear how many of them offer "both sides" arguments. While there are certainly extremists on the Left, where do they really have much power? You get a few "defund the police" types in a few cities but they got slammed fairly quickly by reality and voters. The Squad isn't really effective or even that extreme. Biden and Dems need to attack the "both sides" arguments going into November.
I was surprised to hear how much the "laughing stock around the world" meme was shared. My impression was that most voters didn't really care about that. I guess I was wrong.
I rarely comment twice but this was just fabulous. I could tell that letting them cross-talk actually shifted some of those girls and God bless all of them.
The third party chick lives in la la land.
Sarah, as always these are gifts thank you and your staff for all your work
I like the raw conversation. Thank God for the woman who called out the obnoxious ageism, and the woman who “does her own research” and her Ilk make me want to scream.
Several people talked about voting for Trump cause he was a business man - did you ask them if they new whether Trump was successful bc he was not. He was a failure as a business man and made money off bankruptcy and selling his name. He is a PR guy.
I am very impressed with the independent thought of these women. Now I am 78 years old, not as active as Mick, but I do have an open mind.
This was the best Focus Group podcast yet! I loved the moderator's calm but probing questions. I was surprised that these women voted for Trump in 2016 (recognizing that this was a requirement for eligibility in the group) but for most of them changing to support Biden in 2020 was based on wanting to support rational, competent, and sound government (which Biden has pursued for the most part) as opposed to the crazy, corrupt Trump circus. While I was a Hillary voter in 2016 and can't understand how any rational voter could have gone for Trump, I can be sympathetic to the economically conservative, socially liberal perspective, though I've never bought the argument that government should be run like a business. After all, I was an Obama 2008 - Romney 2012 voter. Above all, hearing the fear in these women of extreme policies being enacted in red states particularly with regard to abortion rights was striking. Hopefully, Democrats (the only Democracy Party) will listen to voters like this during the upcoming campaign!
If you are going to disconnect from the news and other media, you should disconnect from voting. Do the rest of us a big favor.
I am so so about the unfiltered comments format.
I liked all of these participants and I get their 2016 thought process. I never supported Trump but I honestly believed he would at least TRY to be a serious President. But 24 hours in it was clear he was in it for nothing but himself and at no point did he even make the pretense of being presidential thereafter. EVERY speech he made regardless of topic or context was always about "I" "me" and "my" and self agrandizement.
So I get their perception and their change away in 2020.
BUT they kept harping on his business experience as a qualification which is objectively absurd. I think this is an impression formed from Trump's time on prime time television and bears no relationship to his actual business experience. As others have pointed out Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich man... and a non-business person's idea of a business success.
The one woman who lambasted everyone about Joe Biden's age was PHENOMENAL! More than that, you could tell that it was clear she knew her stuff about politics, her opinion carried a LOT of weight with the other participants. It was like they really didn't understand what was going behind the scenes, and now they do because she relayed a lot of TRUTH to them.
Finally, that one who said she disconnected from main stream media probably doesn't even know what main stream media actual is. Cable news is not main stream media in my opinion, but biased media. Local news, BBC, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC etc., is main stream media. CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and Newmax are all biased. So she "disconnected" herself from bias, to actual main stream media when she started following local news. You can't make this stuff up.
Loved this episode! I know it was just a handful of voters but I think they indicate that cross-over voting is going to be real thing this November. People seem to be scrutinizing candidates like they've not done in the past. Gives me hope.
The lady who hasn't gotten around to informing herself about the Republican and Democratic candidates because she's been too busy researching third party candidates made me want to start beating my head against the wall. Some kind soul should take her aside and tell her that if she really wants to waste her vote that badly, she's doing it wrong: it doesn't require all that work. And no, most of us don't realistically "have another choice", whatever she would like to believe. Reality is real.
On this podcast's format, it was really fascinating to hear how a focus group is conducted. But really, I can't take this much raw footage. I prefer aggregated data, a few particularly telling sound bites, and overwhelming rational and sane discussion with your excellent guest analysts.
On voting third party. I have voted third party in presidential elections 5 times, starting with John Anderson in my second presidential election, Ross Perot twice, Ralph Nader in 2000, and Jill Stein in 2012, just because I recognized that based on the state I live in it wasn't going to affect the outcome of the election, thanks to the Electoral College system. I always hated it when people would say things like a vote for Anderson was a vote for Reagan, or a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush. Not sure what the argument would be on votes for Perot and Stein, as Democrats won those 3 elections. Technically, my vote for Ralph Nader didn't elect George W. Bush (Utah's electoral college votes did, so it didn't really matter for whom I voted), but on the ballot in Florida, Nader did damage to Al Gore. Now my feeling is that it's a nice fantasy to think that a third party vote is a vote on principle, or a protest against the established 2 parties, and that it's going to make any difference. Obviously, I couldn't stand Bill Clinton, as I voted for Perot twice (who has done the best of all third party presidential candidates, but not even close to enough), and I wasn't crazy about Hillary; but regardless of how my state's electoral college votes were going to go, I wasn't taking any chances in 2016 and held my nose and voted for her. The Electoral College is an aberration that doesn't exist in state-wide elections, so the calculation with third parties there is very different. Consider Tea Party wins in 2010, 2012, as the most successful third party gambit at the state level. And in the end, they're really just far-right Republicans now. A voter needs to think really hard about from which main party candidate that third party candidate is siphoning votes. If you can't stomach the candidate who is likely to win, because 20%, 10%, even 5% of the electorate voted third party, then don't vote third party. Before I ever vote third party again, I want to be in a state with open primaries and ranked choice voting. Then I can vote for whom I want twice.
On money in politics, thank Citizens United. Rational campaign finance reform is out of reach.
Also surprising that several people mentioned that they were embarrassed by the fact that the disgraced ex-president had made us a laughingstock around the world.