Explain It to Me

Pollsters are starting to panic. There’s headline after headline after headline ahead of the midterms on whether this election cycle’s polling is accurate or not. How does polling actually work? Is it really representative of how voters are feeling and what the outcome will be on Election Day? And when it comes to Democrats, why is polling so wrong? Amy Walter, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report, explains why polls are complicated, lessons to learn from past elections, and what we could expect this November. References: Which Midterm Polls Should We Be Taking With a Grain of Salt? Pollsters fear they’re blowing it again in 2022 Hosts: Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill) Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser A.M. Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

4 Okt 202254min

US immigration policy is complicated. And when Republican Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis chartered buses and planes to relocate migrants to “blue cities,” it raised a ton of legal questions. But it also ignited the age-old question about our immigration system: Why is it so complicated? Weeds veteran Dara Lind (@DLind) explains. References: Why Ron DeSantis is baiting Biden on the border  Opinion | Ron DeSantis Is Making an Asylum Crisis of His Own Host: Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill), Vox senior producer  Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser A.M. Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

27 Sep 202247min

For the September issue of The Highlight, the Vox politics team examined the fastest growing voting bloc in the country: Latino voters. But the 32 million voters that make up the Latino electorate are not a monolithic group. In today’s episode, we’ll look at the intricacies and nuances of the Latino voting bloc and what might happen in the 2022 midterm elections. References: Ruben Gallego's ready for a fight — even if the Democratic Party isn't  Yes, most Latinos are Christian. No, that doesn't make them anti-abortion.  Latino voters are being flooded with even more misinformation in 2022  The full September issue of The Highlight from Vox Hosts: Marin Cogan (@marincogan), senior correspondent Christian Paz (@realcpaz), senior politics reporter Nicole Narea (@nicolenarea), politics reporter Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

20 Sep 202257min

How do we make life better for future generations? Who gets to make those decisions? These are tough questions, and today’s guest, philosopher William MacAskill (@willmacaskill), tries to help us answer them. References:  What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill Effective altruism's most controversial idea  How effective altruism went from a niche movement to a billion-dollar force Effective altruism’s longtermist goals for the future don’t hurt people in the present  Hosts: Bryan Walsh (@bryanrwalsh) Sigal Samuel (@sigalsamuel) Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser A.M. Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

13 Sep 20221h 4min

Today on The Weeds, we are sharing an episode of another Vox podcast, Unexplainable, that originally aired in June 2022.  Millions of Americans take dietary supplements — everything from vitamins and minerals to weight-loss pills and probiotics. But because supplements are loosely regulated in the US, their makers don't have to prove that they work, or even that they are safe. Full transcript available here. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

6 Sep 202234min

Join editor Libby Nelson (@libbyanelson) and reporters Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) and Madeleine Ngo (@maddiengo) for a summer policy wrap-up. Inflation, the economy, and gas prices were on everyone’s minds, but we have even more policy news to talk about. Both Congress and the Biden administration made one last late-summer policy push with the Inflation Reduction Act and student loan cancellation. What does this all mean for you? Listen to find out! References: School vaccine mandates for Covid-19 are not happening  Will student loan forgiveness make inflation worse? Inflation is finally slowing down. Will things get cheaper?  The inflation numbers are bad — but how bad are they?   GDP declined again — but that might not mean we're in a recession  ”Standard Oil” octopus cartoon  Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser A.M. Hall, deputy editorial director Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

30 Aug 202241min

Vox senior correspondent Dylan Matthews sits down with Felicia Wong (@FeliciaWongRI), president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, to talk about a new era of industrial policy. They discuss the theory of modern supply-side economics, the passage of the Inflation Reduction and CHIPS acts, and how much common ground exists between the political left and the right. Hosts: Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer A.M. Hall, editorial director  Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

23 Aug 202250min

Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp and Vox senior foreign writer Jonathan Guyer discuss the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the organizers behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. His death marks a turning point in the “war on terror” and US foreign policy, but what kind of turning point? Can we say the war on terror is over, or is it just entering a new stage? References: What Ayman Zawahiri’s death tells us about terrorism and US foreign policy Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death by drone was President Biden’s opportunity to end the war on terrorism No one has been held accountable for the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal  Where in the world are Russians going to avoid sanctions?  Hosts: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox Jonathan Guyer (@mideastXmidwest), senior foreign policy writer, Vox  Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

16 Aug 20221h 2min