The Horse Race

6/9/22- This week, Jenn fills us in on this weekend’s Dot Day and Dorchfest festivities while eating leftover cake. Steve counters an argument made in a recent episode of The New York Times’ podcast The Daily, that “polling on gun control gets it wrong,” explaining the key difference between issues polling and ballot question polling, and why, as he’s seen in ballot question campaigns throughout Massachusetts history, it’s difficult for ballot questions to receive broad public support.

Next, Lisa gives us a rundown of what came out of the MassDems Convention. Who’s in and who’s out. Breaking news: the closest race is for state auditor.

This week we feature another Statehouse Round-up with BFFs of the pod Katie Lannan and Chris Lisinski of the State House News Service. We talk about the state budget, gas prices, murmurs about the aid in dying bill, Baker’s “revenge porn” bill, and whether the East-West Rail will come to fruition.

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This episode of The Horse Race was brought to you by Benchmark Strategies [www.benchmark-strategies.com] Benchmark is setting a new standard as Boston's fastest-growing public affairs consulting firm. To know more, connect with Benchmark on Twitter @benchmarkBoston.

6/2/2022--This week, Jenn is gearing up for an exciting weekend Dorchester Day activities, and wants to see you all there. Meanwhile Lisa is keeping an eye on all the intraparty drama happening in the leadup to the 2022 MassDems Convention this weekend. Steve, Jenn, and Lisa discuss the upcoming convention as well as the recent MassGOP convention, and what we can possibly expect come the September primary.

Later, MassINC Education Equity Fellow Simone Ngongi-Lukula stops by the virtual bunker to discuss her recent op-ed in the Boston Globe, "Massachusetts’ failure to forestall growing segregation." She talks about the well-documented benefits of magnet schools that draw students from varying racial, socioeconomic, and ethnic backgrounds, and how Massachusetts' move to stop funding magnet schools in the nineties has set them back in terms of integration in schools. And that is despite a vast majority of Massachusetts parents wanting more integration in schools.

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“This episode of The Horse Race was brought to you by Benchmark Strategies [https://www.benchmark-strategies.com/]. Benchmark is setting a new standard as Boston's fastest-growing public affairs consulting firm. To know more, connect with Benchmark on Twitter @benchmarkBoston.

5/25/22-- This week on The Horse Race, Steve, Jennifer, and Lisa begin on the somber note brought about by yet another shooting tragedy, this time in Uvalde Texas, where 19 children and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School. This comes soon after 11 people were shot and killed in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket. Congressional delegates from Massachusetts expressed sadness and called for action, including disbanding the NRA (Rep. Jake Auchincloss) and abolishing the filibuster and passing gun safety legislation (Sen. Ed Markey).

A Massachusetts Senate survey conducted in 2019 found what the Boston Globe called an environment of harassment among Senate employees. The report was never publicly released, but the Boston Globe obtained the report and shared the findings this week. Samantha Gross, who covered it, drops by The Horse Race to discuss what Senate staffers expressed, and how the lack of action surrounding instances of harassment contributed to a recent push to unionize.

According to a 2020 study conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, more than a quarter of 4-year college students experienced food insecurity nationwide. Proposed legislation would take aim at that problem here in Massachusetts. Gina Plata-Nino, an attorney with Mass. Law Reform Institute and one of the co-chairs of the Hunger Free Campus Coalition, shares details on the bill and explains why food insecurity is such a persistent problem on Massachusetts college campuses.

5/19/2022-- This week, Jenn and Lisa begin discuss what’s happening in the race for State Auditor – current Auditor Suzanne Bump endorsed candidate Chris Dempsey as her successor, calling him a “true progressive.” She had previously refuted some of the claims made by Diana DiZoglio, another candidate, about the purview of the auditor’s office.

Our first guest this week is Caroline Vanasse, Project Manager for the MBTA Bus Network Redesign. She shares details of the redesign, explaining the MBTA’s plans for more reliable and expansive bus service.

Finally, Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases and chief of medicine at South Shore Health in Weymouth joins the show to share what he knows about the worrying new Omicron subvariant that is dominating Massachusetts, BA.2.12.1.

5/5/2022-- Today on The Horse Race, Steve and Lisa begin the episode by running through the newest fundraising numbers of the candidates running for statewide office. Plus, Lisa breaks down the results of the special election for the District 1 Boston City Council seat.

The MassINC Polling Group is out with new data on how parents feel about their children's academics and wellbeing in school. Compared to the last wave of education polling, Steve explains, this time around parents aren't quite as optimistic. In the fall, parents were largely confident their children would catch up and get back on track academically given the new all in-person school format. So far, reality has not quite lived up to those expectations. Read more about the poll at massincpolling.com.

Finally, the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade sent shockwaves throughout the country. Today's guest, Rebecca Hart Holder, executive director of Reproductive Equity Now, joins the hosts to explain what the implications would be in Massachusetts if and when the landmark decision falls away.

This episode of The Horse Race was brought to you by Benchmark Strategies. Benchmark is setting a new standard as Boston's fastest-growing public affairs consulting firm. To know more, connect with Benchmark on Twitter @benchmarkBoston.

Full transcription found here: https://www.massincpolling.com/the-topline/episode-212-scotus-shockwaves-could-shake-mass

4/28/22--This week, Steve and Lisa discuss the state of COVID rates in Massachusetts, and what we might be missing when we talk about numbers of positive cases.

New data from The MassINC Polling Group shows there are disparities between the households that use at-home tests to test for COVID and those that get tested at a testing site. That means we may be undercounting cases in specific places and groups. Wealthier people are more likely to have been testing themselves at home, where positives would not be reported. Schools and lower-income areas are perhaps overrepresented since they would potentially be caught in official reporting channels.

Later on in the show, Steve is joined by Manny Cruz, Director of Advocacy in Massachusetts for Latinos for Education, and Ralph Saint-Louis, a Policy Fellow at Teach Plus Massachusetts and a science teacher at Lowell High School, to discuss the Educator Diversity Act, which, if passed by the legislature, would seek to make Massachusetts educators a more diverse workforce. As of now, 42% of all students in Massachusetts identify as students of color, but only 10% of all teachers in the state identify as Black, Latino or API.

4/21/22-- Today, The Horse Race is breaking down two state-focused polls out this week. The first is a poll conducted by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion, which asked likely Democratic primary voters about their choices in the 2022 races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and state auditor. The poll shows gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey with a strong lead over opponent Sonia Chang-Diaz, which grew since The MassINC Polling Group's poll on the candidates from January.

A second poll released this week was conducted by The MassINC Polling Group and its research director/guest co-host for this week's episode, Rich Parr. The MPG/Boston Globe poll surveyed Massachusetts residents about their opinions on climate change. This poll is one of a series of statewide climate surveys, and it found that residents consider climate change to be less of a concern than in 2019, when the last wave was conducted. However, that's not to say residents don't feel climate change is a serious threat. Majorities say that climate impacts, including heat waves (58%), coastal flooding (60%), and more powerful storms (62%), are already or very likely to hit the state in the next 5 years.

The poll included additional responses from Black, Latino, and Asian residents, to enable a closer look at opinion between and within each group. Consistent with national polling, Black and Latino residents are more likely to say climate change is a “very serious” problem for the state. This poll also echoes national polling in showing a large partisan gap in concern about climate, with 62% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents calling it a very serious problem, compared to just 22% of Republicans and Republican leaners. Click here to read more about the poll: https://www.massincpolling.com/the-topline/poll-massachusetts-residents-see-climate-change-as-a-serious-problem-for-state

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A statement from a spokesperson for the state Cannabis Control Commission in regard to a prior episode of The Horse Race:

"On March 14, the Boston Globe reported that Creative Services, Inc. (CSI) was exposed to a data breach that compromised the information of 164,000 individuals, including 1,982 individuals who are associated with Massachusetts cannabis licenses or license applications, as well as 75 Cannabis Control Commission (Commission) staff. In an interview during the March 31 episode of The Horse Race, the guest falsely stated that the Commission had been exposed to a data breach. The Commission does require all individuals listed on an initial license application to have a background check performed, via the Commission, with CSI. However, it is important to clarify that the Commission does not require, nor recommend, any particular company to perform background checks on the employees and/or agents they hire. Please note: as of the Commission’s April public meeting, there were 19,358 active agent registrations in Massachusetts’ adult-use cannabis industry, and 9,117 active agent registrations in the medical use industry.

The guest being interviewed also suggested that, because of this event, the Commission should be audited. Regarding any comments as to whether the Commission has been audited, there is currently an audit by Auditor Bump’s office underway and has been for some time."

4/14/2022-- The Masachusetts House of Representatives released their FY 2023 budget proposal this week, and friends of the pod as well as State House News Service reporters Katie Lannan and Chris Lisinski are here to break down the line items as well as the differences in budget priorities between Governor Baker and the House and Senate.

Chris and Katie also dive into the news of a union in the works among Senate staffers who say they are seeking pay equity and a culture change in their workplace. Plus, a new study finds an uptick in the number of reporters covering state houses across the country.

4/7/2022--This week on The Horse Race, we bring you another of the Internet's Finest: a list from anytimeestimate.com ranking Boston as the fourth-best "pizza city" in the U.S. In case you were wondering, it ranks above both New York City and Chicago. Steve and Jenn dissect the list's confusing criteria for assembling such a list. Please do let us know your thoughts on this -- does Boston deserve its place on the list? Tweet at us @The_HorseRace.

For our first segment, Steve and Jenn discuss the new developments in statewide races this week. Progressive Massachusetts released more endorsements this week, lending their support to Quentin Palfrey for attorney general, Chris Dempsey for state auditor, and Tanisha Sullivan for secretary of the commonwealth. The group has already endorsed Sonia Chang-Díaz for governor and Rep. Tammy Gouveia for lieutenant governor. The hosts also discuss the financial status of each of the campaigns in the races for attorney general and governor.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johston issued a joint statement last year agreeing to share best practices on regional economic regeneration. That’s exactly what’s been happening since October of last year here in Massachusetts. The UK Consulate of Boston has visited five Gateway Cities in Massachusetts, learning how these communities grow prosperity and sharing the UK’s approach to regional economic growth. Peter Abbott, the British consul general to Boston, drew up the findings and joins Jenn and Steve on The Horse Race to share those findings.

3/31/22--It shouldn't be too difficult to sit back, relax and enjoy this week's episode of The Horse Race because, according to a WalletHub study (https://wallethub.com/edu/most-stressful-states/32218), the state of Massachusetts ranks among the least stressed states in the nation. Jennifer, Lisa, and Steve have a lot to say about the accuracy of this study.

Later, in light of Governor Charlie Baker's HireNow program geared towards getting people back to work and meeting employers needs, we discuss why so many people across the country are leaving their jobs in the first place. MassINC Polling Group research associate and producer of the pod Libby Gormley talks through a Pew Research poll documenting U.S. workers' reasons for quitting jobs in 2021. (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/09/majority-of-workers-who-quit-a-job-in-2021-cite-low-pay-no-opportunities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/)

Finally, this week Governor Charlie handed out his first endorsement in a statewide race this year. It went to Republican candidate for state auditor, Anthony Amore. Amore joins us on the show to discuss his approach to the race as the sole Republican, his priorities if elected, and how his background as a federal agent, Homeland Security official, and museum security director has prepared him to take on the office.