PODCAST · government
Politics in Question
by Julia Azari, Lee Drutman, and James Wallner
A podcast about how our political institutions are failing us and ideas for fixing them. Join hosts Lee Drutman and James Wallner as they imagine and argue over what American politics could look like if citizens questioned everything. Politics In Question is a joint venture of New America and the Foundation for American Innovation.
Episodes
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Is Congress Too Old?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James talk about the issue of gerontocracy in American politics. Why do some people see an aging Congress as a problem? Would a maximum age limit require a constitutional amendment? Why aren't elections enough to solve the problem? These are some…
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How Do We Build and Break Power?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Alex Hertel-Fernandez and Jamila Michener about what power building might look like for the next pro-democracy government. Hertel-Fernandez is the Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University's School of International and...
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Who Controls the Party?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Georgia Kernell about how parties choose their candidates. Kernell is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of Inside Parties: How Party Rules Shape Membership and Responsiveness (Cambridge...
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What Happened to the Republican Party?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Seth Masket about how Trump voters fundamentally changed the Republican Party. Masket is a professor of political science at the University of Denver and the author of the Substack the @smotus report, as well as his new book, The...
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What Makes the Working Families Party Work?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Tabitha Abu El-Haj about the power of associational party building. Abu El-Haj is a professor of law at Drexel University and the author of a new report, A Model for Associational Party Building (New America, 2026). How does associational...
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What’s Wrong with Political Parties?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Didi Kuo about how to fix political parties. Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and co-author, alongside Lee Drutman, of a new report, A Blueprint for Healthier Political Parties (New...
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What Can Stop the Redistricting Wars?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the Supreme Court's recent redistricting ruling and what it means for American democracy. The case out of Louisiana — in which the Court's conservative majority struck down a majority-Black congressional district — has helped unleash…
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What Are the Rules and Procedures to SAVE America?
In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat about the SAVE America Act. What is the partisan tension behind putting up a voter ID bill? How could this policy harm Republicans? What is the relationship between cloture and filibusters? These are some of the questions that Lee and...
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Why Are Factions Valuable?
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Soren Dayton about the importance of factions within Congress. Dayton is Director of American Governance Policy at the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI) and co-author of a new paper alongside James, Rebuilding Congress...
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Why Does Money Matter?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Danielle Thomsen about the role of money in politics. Thomsen is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and author of The Money Signal: How Fundraising Matters in American Politics (The University of...
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Is the American Dream Dead?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Liz Suhay about the death and myth of the American Dream. Suhay is a professor of government in the School of Public Affairs at American University and the author of Debating the American Dream: How Explanations for Inequality…
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How Does Transformation Lead to Regression?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James talk with their former co-host Julia Azari about the role of presidents in shaping of racial norms. Azari is a Professor of Political Science at Marquette University and author of Backlash Presidents (Princeton University Press, 2025)....
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Does Moderation Matter?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James dive into the “moderate debate.” They discuss Lee’s recent Substack essay, The Moderation Debate Fiddles with 2% While Democracy’s Dimensionality Collapses. Should parties move to the center? How do we define “moderate”? And what would...
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How Do We Stop the Rise of Autocracy? Feat. Stacey Abrams
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, host Lee Drutman talks with Leader Stacey Abrams about the current state of democracy. Leader Abrams is a strategist, novelist, and host of the podcast Assembly Required. How do we create a sustainable democracy? What’s the difference between...
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Why Are We in a Shutdown?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James talk with Matt Glassman about the state and stakes of the government shutdown. Glassman is a Senior Fellow at The Government Affairs Institute and the author of the Substack Matt’s Five Points. What's the underlying cause of this...
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What Can the Data Tell Us?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee talks with G. Elliot Morris about all things polling. Morris is a data-driven journalist and author of Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022). How should we evaluate the quality of polling data?...
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How Are Social Movements Built?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and Julia talk with Hahrie Han, a recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, about the intricacies of local-level political organizing. Han is a Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora...
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What is a Pocket Rescission?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the context behind the looming government shutdown. They walk through the history of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and examine whether Congress can still play its constitutional role in checking the executive. What…
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Is American Politics Stuck in a Gerontocracy?
In this week’s episode of Politics in Question, Lee sits down with Oscar Pocasangre and Dustin Wahl to discuss the representation of young people in politics. Pocasangre is a Senior Data Analyst at New America, and Wahl is the Executive Director of Fix Our House. Together, they co-authored a new...
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Who Really Controls the Map?
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James catch up on the state of redistricting in the U.S. They discuss Lee’s latest Substack piece, “Democracy in Pieces: Did the Texas Gerrymander Just Break the Districting Game ?” Who writes the rules? Does the Democrats’ response to...
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What's the Future of Casework?
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee Drutman discusses with Anne Meeker how case work and constituent services would work under proportional representation. Meeker is Deputy Director of POPVox and co-author of a white paper titled How Would Constituent Services in American...
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Do We Need Conflict in American Politics?
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James discuss the role of conflict in policy making, guided by E.E. Schattschneider's The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America (1960). How can conflict drive change? How do our current views of partisanship and...
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Who Has the Power?
In this week’s special live episode of Politics In Question, James and Lee talk with Soren Dayton about cycles of electoral reform. Dayton is the Director of Governance at the Foundation for American Innovation. What are the boundaries of presidential power? How has power been centralized within...
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What Happened to Our Political Parties?
In this week’s special live episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Didi Kuo about the evolution of political parties in America. Kuo is a Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties...
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Where Does Christianity Fit in American Politics?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James talk with Jonathan Rauch about Christian nationalism and its relationship to democracy. Rauch is a senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and the author of Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with...
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Do We Need to Redefine Democracy?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James talk with Samuel Bagg about participation and democracy. Bagg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and the author of The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of...
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What Defines a Political Scandal?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Charles Hunt and Jaclyn Kettler about political scandals. Hunt is a Professor of Political Science at Boise State University (BSU), and Kettler is a Political Science Associate Professor at BSU. They are the hosts of...
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Have We Entered a New Constitutional Order?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee talks with Paul Pierson and Eric Schickler about the polarization of American politics and the emergence of a new constitutional order. Pierson is the John Gross Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Berkeley, and Schickler is the...
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How Did the Heartland Go Red?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia and Lee talk with Stephanie Ternullo about the political shift among white working-class Americans. Ternullo is an Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of How the Heartland Went Red: Why Local Forces Matter in an...
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How Do We Fix Political Dysfunction?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, James, Julia, and Lee discuss political dysfunction and how our perceptions of politics influence our views. They discuss Lee’s Substack piece We Need More (and Better) Parties and Julia’s Substack piece The Odds vs. The Stakes: In 2024, They Don't...
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Is Democracy Under Threat?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Zack Beauchamp about how we make sense of democratic threats. Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox and author of The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World (PublicAffairs,...
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How Do Voting Laws Affect Turnout?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee talks with Kevin Morris about demographics, voting rights, and elections. Morris, a Senior Research Fellow and Voting Policy Scholar at the Brennan Center, is the co-author of the report Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout, 2008–2022.…
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Can multiparty presidentialism revitalize U.S. democracy?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia talks with Scott Mainwaring about multipartism and presidentialism. Mainwaring is the Eugene and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the co-author, alongside Lee Drutman, of The Case for…
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What is the role of parties?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia and Lee talk with Sam Rosenfeld and Daniel Schlozman about the evolution of political parties in the United States. Rosenfeld is an is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colgate University and Scholzman is a Joseph and Bertha…
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What are the politics of debt relief?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and Julia talk with Chloe Nicol Thurston and Emily Zackin about the United State’s relationship to debt and debtors. Thurston is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and Zackin is an Associate Professor of...
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How does memory shape democracy?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question Lee and Julia dive into the latest from their Substack newsletters, Undercurrent Events and Good Politics/Bad Politics. They delve into how negativity bias, nostalgia bias, identity, and messaging all shape the current state of our democracy. How do…
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What does changing demographics mean for parties?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question Lee talks with Jocelyn Kiley to discuss the Pew Report, Changing Partisan Coalitions in a Politically Divided Nation. Kiley is a Senior Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Center. What are the most important demographic groups within each...
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Has the Senate been disrupted?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James explore the role of the Senate and the dysfunction we see today with Sean Theriault. Theriault is a Professor at the Department of Government at the University of Texas, Austin and the author of Disruption?: The Senate During the Trump...
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How do direct primaries impact American self-government?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James explore America’s reliance on direct primaries in federal elections with Nick Troiano. Troiano is the Executive Director of Unite America and the author of The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes (Simon &…
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Why do Americans use primary elections to select candidates for office?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee discusses the history of primary elections and options for reform with Robert Boatright. Boatright is professor of political science at Clark University and the world’s leading expert on the American primary system. He is also the director of...
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Who rules America?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Ari Berman joins Julia and Lee to discuss voting rights in the United States. Berman is Mother Jones’ national voting rights correspondent. He is the author of numerous books, including Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People...
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Why is it amateur hour on Capitol Hill?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Rachel Porter joins Lee to consider the consequences of political amateurs in Congress. Porter is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. Her research interests include American political institutions and political methodology, with a…
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Is American democracy in crisis?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Jake Grumbach joins Lee and James to consider whether American democracy is in crisis. Grumbach is an associate professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He studies the political economy of the United States, with interests in...
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What is the state of American Democracy?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Congressman John Sarbanes, D-Md., joins Lee to talk about the health of American democracy. Sarbanes has represented Maryland’s third congressional district in the House of Representatives since 2007. He serves on the House Committee on Energy and...
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Do white rural Americans pose a threat to democracy?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Thomas Schaller and Paul Waldman join Lee and James to discuss the urban-rural divide in American politics. Schaller is a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Waldman is a journalist and author whose…
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What is the right way to do politics?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Matt Glassman joins Lee and James to discuss the right way to do politics. Glassman is a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. Before that, he worked on congressional operations, separation of powers,...
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Is the House broken?
In this week's episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James ask Representative Chip Roy, R-Texas, if the House of Representatives is broken. Roy is a devoted husband and father of two, serving his third term in Congress representing Texas's 21st Congressional District. He serves on the House...
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Why can't Americans compromise?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Jonathan Rauch joins Lee and James to consider why Americans can’t compromise. Rauch is a senior fellow in the Governance Studies program and the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing...
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Are Americans democracy hypocrites?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James talk about Bonnie Tyler, Tina Turner, and Americans’ views of democracy. What is democracy? How do Americans view it? Do they think about democracy differently when it gets in their way? Does that make them “democracy hypocrites?” Why...
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What does 2023 tell us about what could happen in American politics in 2024?
In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Julia, Lee, and James discuss what happened in 2023, and what could happen in 2024. What did we learn in 2023? Was American politics less fluid and surprising than it was in 2022? Will the 2024 presidential election be a rematch between President…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A podcast about how our political institutions are failing us and ideas for fixing them. Join hosts Lee Drutman and James Wallner as they imagine and argue over what American politics could look like if citizens questioned everything. Politics In Question is a joint venture of New America and the Foundation for American Innovation.
HOSTED BY
Julia Azari, Lee Drutman, and James Wallner
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Politics in Question have?
Politics in Question currently has 183 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Politics in Question about?
A podcast about how our political institutions are failing us and ideas for fixing them. Join hosts Lee Drutman and James Wallner as they imagine and argue over what American politics could look like if citizens questioned everything. Politics In Question is a joint venture of New America and the...
How often does Politics in Question release new episodes?
Politics in Question publishes regularly with 183 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Politics in Question?
You can listen to Politics in Question on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Politics in Question?
Politics in Question is created and hosted by Julia Azari, Lee Drutman, and James Wallner.
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