Amid Covid surges, rising inflation and a deadlocked Senate, what’s driving American politics?

Covering politics for decades for NPR, Mara Liasson juggles the clues that signal what voters are thinking: polling about who approves and disapproves of the job President Biden is doing, factors that worry them, like Covid surges and soaring inflation, and patterns of past rejections of the party in power. But Liasson says now she sees more caustic polarization than she ever has--sharpened, in her view, by former President Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and the choice of many elected Republicans to agree, without evidence: "We don't even have a common set of facts now. And that’s really scary to me." Liasson will be in Baltimore a week from today for the Baltimore Speakers Series presented by Stevenson University.Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472