Lost in the Middle: America's Political Orphans

Post-election special with Justin Young and Andrew Heaton

So what did the political orphans do in the Presidential election?  Check this out. Self-identified independents accounted for a larger share of voters than Democrats and were tied with Republicans, Edison Research exit polling data showed. The independent turnout share was up 8 percentage points from 2020, when it was at 26%.  Here at the Lost in the Middle podcast we are not surprised. We told you so.  I joined forces this week with two other political podcast hosts to give our own twisted post-mortem in our final episode of '24. Joining me is Justin Young, a journalist, comedian and host of “Politics, Politics, Politics,” and Andrew Heaton a comedian, author and political satirist who hosts “The Political Orphanage.” As always podcast episodes and my blog at scottklug.substack.com [https://scottklug.substack.com/] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit scottklug.substack.com [https://scottklug.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The undecided voter

When you keep looking at polls that say Trump is up one here, Harris up 2 there—you need to keep one fact in mind. It’s not uncommon for pollsters to push undecided voters and leaners to pick a candidate. To say, “if you were going to vote today who would you choose?” It distorts the true state of the race. If you live in a swing state like I do in Wisconsin we have been carpet bombed for months. Mailboxes jammed full of campaign postcards, the incessant tv and radio commercials have pushed the car dealers and home remodeling crowd off the air. So, OMG who is still waffling at this moment? Many are what the Cook Reports Amy Walter likened to casual NFL fans like herself. They don’t pay attention to the draft, free agent signings, or the exhibition season. The closer we get to the Super Bowl they become engaged. With a handful of days to go until election day now they are stocking up on chips and coke to watch NBC’s Steve Kornack after voting in person. I also think a pile of them are voters who like much of what Trump did in the White House, but cannot get over January 6th, or his personality and boorish behavior. Read this passage from This morning by Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen A Washington Post-Schar School [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18Rncvd6L51SGVZnGBGGKlqhdBknsRojdXu-A0NY4MU8/edit?pli=1&gid=0#gid=0] poll conducted Sept. 30 to Oct. 15 showed 26 percent of swing-state voters were still uncommitted — and they were much more negative about the Biden-Harris administration than the wider electorate…Other polls have found similar results. Recent New York Times-Siena polls found that 18 percent of voters [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/briefing/swing-voters-2024-election-trump-harris.html] in key swing states were not firmly committed to either candidate.” Will they vote for the ex-President, or if they are still double haters, will they even vote? In that same WaPo poll only 52 percent of uncommitted voters said they definitely will vote. And just 42 percent believed their vote matters At the Lost Middle podcast, we have been doing a series of countdown episodes and today we turn to Colorado to get a perspective. There are a zillion political scientists at colleges around the country, most are dry and mind numbing, Seth Masket  is one of a handful who is both entertaining and insightful.  He’s a perfect guest for our Lost Middle Countdown series because he manages to cut through the clutter and spin. He is the Director of the Center on American Politics and his column at Substack is a must read. We look at tiny shifts in voting blocs that could tilt the election. We are looking at you political orphans, swing voters and independents. You can find the whole episode right here at scottklug.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit scottklug.substack.com [https://scottklug.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Election Countdown special with guest Seth Masket

There are a zillion political scientists at colleges around the country, most are dry and mind-numbing. Seth Masket is one of a handful who is both entertaining and insightful. He’s a perfect guest for our Lost in the Middle Countdown series because he manages to cut through the clutter and spin. He is the director of the Center on American Politics and his column at Substack is a must read. In our final countdown episode, we look at tiny shifts in voting blocs that could tilt the election. We are looking at you political orphans, swing voters and independents This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit scottklug.substack.com [https://scottklug.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Balanced news coverage?

Frustrated by the media coverage of the election? Boy, am I with you. Look, I spent a third of my career working as a journalist. And then became a Republican Congressman. Add in an MBA and that makes me unicorn of sorts. What is frustrating you with media coverage today is not driven by some weird cabal of the right or left. It is driven by economics. And by a demographic and geographic bubble. Flip the channel between Fox and MSNBC and you’ll discover parallel universes. Places I choose not to visit. Faced with mounting economic pressures, even the mainstream media has been forced to tilt. Could anything be smugger than the Washington Post cutline “Democracy dies in Darkness.” Since Craigslist destroyed classified advertising which accounted for 45% of newspaper revenue, papers fold weekly. National news magazines have disappeared. The print industry is desperate for subscribers. Meanwhile consumers are cutting the cord, eroding revenues for CNN and every other platform. So where are we today? Only 31% of Americans trust the media. 36% have no trust. 33% don’t have much all. That’s from a Gallup poll this month. When I graduated from Northwestern in the post-Watergate era it was at 71 percent. And then there are the nagging questions of fairness when only 7% of journalists identify as Republicans. Longtime Politco media columnist Jack Shaffer took a deep dive after the 2016 election. If you want to know why the Washington and New York press corps missed Trump’s election, consider these facts. “Nearly 90 percent of all internet publishing employees work in a county where Clinton won, and 75 percent of them work in a county that she won by more than 30 percentage points. When you add in the shrinking number of newspaper jobs, 72 percent of all internet publishing or newspaper employees work in a county that Clinton won. “ As Jack concluded ‘“so when your conservative friends use “media” as a synonym for “coastal” and “liberal,” they’re not far off the mark.”Since I spent 8 years as a Member of Congress and 13 years as a journalist, listeners and readers ask me all the time where can I find solid political coverage that is not slanted? I’d suggest two things. Look at the website “All Sides” which rate major news outlets for bias. The site was founded by three Silicon Valley veterans who were crestfallen that rather than bringing people together, the internet was driving us apart. The website plays it straight.If you are looking for balanced, old fashioned, both sides of an issue reporting, nobody does a better job than “Tangle News” founded by veteran political journalist and podcaster Issac Saul. In episode 3 of our Lost in the Middle Election Countdown specials we get his insights on the state of the election and our mutual concerns about America’s mainstream press. You can find the full episode and our other reporting on the Lost Political Middle: America’s Political Orphans. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit scottklug.substack.com [https://scottklug.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Election Countdown special with Isaac Saul of 'Tangle News'

60% of Americans say they are worn out by so much coverage of the 2024 presidential election (Pew research). And then there are the nagging questions of fairness when only 7% of journalists identify as Republicans.Since I spent 8 years as a Member of Congress and 13 years as a journalist, listeners and readers ask me all the time where can I find solid political coverage that is not slanted?Nobody does a better job than “Tangle News” founded by veteran political journalist and podcaster Isaac Saul. In episode 3 of the Lost in the Middle Countdown we get his insights on the state of the election and our mutual concerns about America’s mainstream press. Episodes at scottklug.substack.com [http://scottklug.substack.com/] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit scottklug.substack.com [https://scottklug.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]