Politicology

This is a preview of our TAPPED calls, which are typically for Politicology+ members only. Subscribe now or find out more at: https://politicology.com/plus

What’s different about the relative handful of battleground districts that will determine the balance of power in Washington? An unconventional new poll just took a closer look at that question—and the results are surprising. (They’re also instructive for operatives running competitive midterm campaigns right now.)

In this TAPPED call, I talk with one of the architects of the survey, Cornell Professor Douglas Kriner. Doug is an award-winning author and the Clinton Rossiter Professor in American Institutions at Cornell. Together with Rep. Steve Israel, chair of Cornell’s Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, teamed up with political polling veteran Anna Greenberg, Ph.D., to design this unique survey. They released the results during Cornell’s recent State of Democracy Summit on May 24, 2022.

Read more about the findings: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/05/where-red-and-blue-meet-cancel-culture-fair-elections

Prof. Douglas Kriner: https://government.cornell.edu/douglas-l-kriner

Rep. Steve Israel: https://government.cornell.edu/steve-israel

Anna Greenberg, Ph.D.: https://twitter.com/Anna_Greenberg

Ron Steslow: https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

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Communications expert Susan Del Percio and Democratic strategist Liz Gilbert join Ron Steslow to unpack some of the most important stories of the week:

(02:04) The school shooting in Uvalde, TX and red flag laws

(22:34) The biggest takeaways from Tuesday’s primary elections

(37:04) The Russian blockade stopping Ukraine’s grain exports and the dire consequences for global food security

[Politicology+ Members Only] The Democrats not-so-secret-search for an alternative to Joe Biden to top the ticket in 2024

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https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

https://twitter.com/DelPercioS

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Algorithms are the secret sauce of Silicon Valley startups and social media giants. They are complex sets of rules—written in code—that dictate your experience when you’re scrolling through Twitter or Facebook or Instagram in your own digital ‘filter bubble.’ In this episode, Stanford Professors Mehran Sahami and Rob Reich join Ron Steslow to discuss Elon Musk’s proposal to make Twitter’s algorithms open source and what algorithmic transparency could mean for users, for civil society, and for democracy.

(02:21) What social media algorithms do and how they impact what you see on platforms

(05:01) The embedded values on social media platforms

(11:07) How algorithmic transparency could help bad actors 

(12:23) What algorithms look for and what they’re trained to do 

(15:05) Content moderation and algorithmic amplification

(23:53) Transparency without going open source

(28:01) Algorithmic choice through “middleware”

(32:27) Consumer Choice, misinformation, and filter bubbles 

(48:43) Whether Democracy can withstand this

Purchase System Error: 

https://systemerrorbook.com/ 

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Follow Mehran, Rob, and Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mehran_sahami

https://twitter.com/robreich 

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

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Political strategist Lucy Caldwell and social policy expert Lanae Erickson join Ron Steslow to unpack some of the most important stories of the week:

(02:28) The biggest stories coming out of Tuesday’s primary elections 

(21:01) Great Replacement Theory

(43:20) DHS’s warning of political violence after the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade

[Politicology+ Members Only] Elon Musk the dynamist 

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https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

https://twitter.com/madrid_mike

https://twitter.com/JamesGLynch

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Journalist, Public Speaker and Author Celeste Headlee (@CelesteHeadlee) joins host Ron Steslow (@RonSteslow) to reveal the science and history behind human communication, share keys to unlock deeper conversations, and explain how critical empathy is for our ability to listen and connect. For more information, to contact us, or to contribute to Politicology, visit Politicology.com

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Political strategist Mike Madrid and communications consultant James Lynch join Ron Steslow to unpack some of the most important stories of the week:

(03:20) The stock market tumble, interest rate hikes, and voter concerns over gas & groceries 

(19:07) Abortion rights protests after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v Wade

(38:18) The DNC’s newly announced ad spend to reach Latino Voters

[Politicology+ Members Only] Elon Musk’s pledge to restore Donald Trump’s banned Twitter account

// To get your private, ad-free Politicology+ podcast feed with extra episodes, go to politicology.com/plus or subscribe in Apple Podcasts.

Are you learning from Politicology? Help us expand by pitching in now: https://politicology.com/donate

Follow this week’s panel on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

https://twitter.com/madrid_mike

https://twitter.com/JamesGLynch

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In the second episode of this two part series, Øptimus co-founder and Data Science Director for Decision Desk HQ Scott Tranter joins Ron Steslow to talk about data science, polling, and modeling

To unlock more episodes, visit: https://politicology.com/plus

(00:59) The non-response bias and how data scientists must deal with it 

(02:55) The decrease in response rates over time

(10:47) Likely vs eligible voters in polls and how to predict who’s likely to vote

(15:55) Finding respondents to fill cohorts 

(28:05 ) Innovations in data science

(31:14) The numbers Scott is watching

My conversation with Mike Madrid about Latino Voting Trends: https://link.chtbl.com/CgkltIhG

Follow Scott and Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/stranter

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

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Former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, political strategist Lucy Caldwell, and social policy expert Lanae Erickson join guest host Liz Gilbert to unpack the most important story of the week:

(02:15) Politico’s bombshell scoop that Justice Alito drafted a majority opinion overturning Roe v Wade

(14:23) The impact the decision could have on women

(17:45) The unprecedented leak from SCOTUS and what it could mean for the Court

(30:18) How this could impact the midterm elections

(52:39) What this could mean for other rights built on the same legal framework 

(58:51)What listeners can do 

[Politicology+ Members Only] We discuss the Ohio primary election and 

// To get your private, ad-free Politicology+ podcast feed with extra episodes, go to politicology.com/plus or subscribe in Apple Podcasts.

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Follow this week’s panel on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/_lizgilbert

https://twitter.com/lucymcaldwell

https://twitter.com/LanaeErickson

https://twitter.com/wendydavis

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Ron checks in while on the road headed to Ukraine

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In this two part series, Øptimus co-founder and Data Science Director for Decision Desk HQ Scott Tranter joins Ron Steslow to talk about data science, polling, and modeling

To unlock more episodes, visit: https://politicology.com/plus

(01:00) The role of a data scientist on a campaign 

(04:20) What message testing is and how it’s used

(11:15) Understanding voters you need to persuade and voters you need to turn out

(15:16) Explaining sampling 

(34:36) Polling vs modeling

(37:15) Why pollsters choose the cohorts they do

Follow Scott and Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/stranter

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

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