The Focus Group Podcast

There are a lot of red states with big elections this year where Democrats are 'sayin' there's a chance.'

Republicans have been on a long winning streak in Florida...but they might be playing defense in 2026.

It’s October, and the political environment is really, really, REALLY bad for the Republican Party.

Ohio used to be the biggest swing state in the country. It's turned pretty red, (Trump won it by 11 points in 2024) but it's very hotly contested this year.

Sarah and Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer discuss her book, How to Eat an Elephant, what focus groups are, why she does them, and she uncorks some fresh focus group content on-stage.

Against all odds, Democrats still have a chance in the Texas Senate race. So, is it because Ken Paxton is bad, or because of James Talarico's Nice Young Man energy? Turns out, both.

North Carolina has been a difficult nut for Democrats to crack for nearly two decades. But relatively popular former Gov. Roy Cooper appears to be on the verge of changing that this year.

Why is 80-year-old Ed Markey surviving a Democratic revolt against aging politicians?

Amy Walter returns to the pod for a pundit therapy session.

The battle lines of the next Republican primary are being drawn in Florida's Republican primary for governor.

After Sen. Lindsey Graham’s passing in July, South Carolina is holding a special Republican primary to replace him as the nominee for U.S. Senate.

At the end of one of the most expensive Democratic primaries for Senate in American history, Abdul El-Sayed appears to be pulling away.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro is on track for a pretty big win in November. And he can't do that without winning over a lot of former Trump voters, including the ones in our focus group.

American politics and politicians are decidedly lower-character than they used to be. So, how did we get here?

Over the last three years, Democratic voters’ opinion of Israel has taken a nosedive. Sarah and Tommy Vietor talk about why.

If you're wondering how (and whether) America is worth celebrating on this particular July 4th, this show will be a bit of a pep talk for you.

Colorado isn't much of a swing state anymore, but we're covering its primaries anyway. Both of its senators and one longtime member of Congress are facing bigger headwinds than you might expect.

Barrels of ink have been spilled about James Talarico, Ken Paxton, Graham Platner, and Susan Collins. For the first time, we're listening to how swing voters in Texas and Maine are assessing these two races.

Gen Z swung hard for Trump in 2024. Now his approval with them is under 30%. What happened, and what does this generation’s mix of political views (especially on the war in the Middle East) mean for 2026?

Summer’s here, and Sarah’s taking a break from primary election coverage to take stock of the national political landscape.

Everyone loves to complain about how California is governed...even some of the Democrats in our focus groups. So, how is the Democratic primary to replace Gavin Newsom shaping up?

Sarah is sick and tired of the arguments about whether Democrats should move to the left or the center, because Democratic voters’ answers to this question overlap a lot more than the online turf wars suggest.

Georgia's primaries for Governor and U.S. Senate have LOTS of things for political nerds (like you, dear listener) to chew on. But the Republican and Democratic voters we talked to felt pretty sick of politics.

This week's show has a rare note of agreement with our MAGA focus group participants.

Usually, an assassination attempt outside a dinner with the president would be a HUGE news event. Instead, the voters in our focus groups weren't talking much about it.

Everyone agrees that America is too divided. So, how do we rebuild a country where Americans can live with each other a little easier?

Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV are probably the two most prominent Americans in the world right now, and they're fighting.

We convened a focus group of 2020 and 2024 Trump voters who are unhappy with his administration to give you a sample of the kind of despair that could keep Republicans home in November.

The Iran War has been going on for a month, and it’s deeply, DEEPLY unpopular. Plus, we get reactions from swing voters on the characters inside the Trump administration who they like (like Marco Rubio), or REALLY dislike (listen to find out).

Artificial intelligence is such a big change to human civilization that our political class is struggling to keep up. The voters in our focus groups are struggling, too.

A lot of the young people we’ve been talking to are relatively apolitical, and many of them don’t vote. But what DO these young people care about?

The Democratic primary for US Senate in Illinois is a bit quiet, according to our guest. But underneath the surface, one candidate has a VERY interesting way of getting attention...and voters are starting to notice. David Axelrod, former adviser to President Obama, joins the show to discuss this Chicago-style Senate race.

Sarah was out last week, and felt she had to bring you some timely focus group reactions to the War in Iran.

Rachel Janfaza sits in for Sarah to take a look at Gen Z’s personal finances.

The Texas Senate primary on March 3 between James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett is a toxic cesspool on Twitter. But Texas Democrats are practically giddy over how much they like both candidates.

Sen. John Cornyn has been a consistent ally of President Trump. Even Trump likes him just fine...but that may not be enough to save him in Texas, because he may have just been too mild-mannered for too long. We break down the Republican brawl in the Lone Star State.

More and more Trump voters are souring on his administration. But why? Inflation, immigration, and Epstein are all in the mix, but there's a giant mosaic of disappointments. We needed a second qualitative researcher to make sense of it all.

Why are Gen Z men drifting right while Gen Z women move left? And why do right-wing zoomers think the gender gap is so wide?

We saw an ICE officer kill an American citizen for the second time in less than three weeks. This time, it was harder for some of the voters we talked to to make an excuse for it.

Some strange, under-the-radar things are happening on the right. Marco Rubio is experiencing a strange rehabilitation with the Republican base, and some young men are excited about taxing OnlyFans. Meanwhile, JD Vance is still on the struggle bus with swing voters, especially women.

There's a lot of bad news right now—so much that none of it is breaking through that much to the voters we talked to. From the ICE killing of Renee Good to the Epstein files to the criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, Bill Kristol joins Sarah for a reflective conversation on the tough times we live in and how voters are processing them.

The US just captured Venezuela's dictator, and we needed some quick voter reactions. Is this REALLY what the newest members of Trump's coalition voted for? We're also sensing growing discontent from them with the state of the country, and with the Trump administration governing more for its friends than for them.

Sarah started doing focus groups in 2018 and 2019 hoping to save the Republican Party from Trump. Instead, she discovered voters who were fine with Trump, and she picked up a years-long addiction that turned into this show.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement and its adherents have done some of the most harm of anyone in Donald Trump's second term. The voters who are motivated by 'MAHA' are also some of the most interesting.

The American military used to be one of the more trusted institutions in America. In 2025, it's a major political football. But how much do voters know about the military and its proper use? Bulwark military expert, Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) joins the show.

Swing voters are pretty fed up with politics in general. And in our most recent focus group, they all let political leaders HAVE IT.

Donald Trump got elected in 2024 because voters felt prices were too high. So, how are his voters feeling about the state of the economy?

Trump had to make an about-face on the Epstein Files because some of his voters were getting…mildly annoyed. Will Sommer joins Sarah to hear them out. Then, Sen. Elissa Slotkin joins the show to discuss her PSA with her colleagues to the military and intelligence community, reminding them they can refuse illegal orders.

There's always a possibility that Trump will try to run for a third term. But plenty of Republicans don't even want that...for now. We asked some of Trump's base how they're feeling about a third term, and talk about MTG's about-face, and the rise of antisemitism on the right.

We've heard a lot about how young men have shifted to the right...but this week's election showed young women moving to the left as well. Gen Z expert Rachel Janfaza, founder of The Up and Up, joins Sarah to discuss why young women have shifted to the left, why their male peers have shifted to the right, and why their life priorities are so different.

No election in 2025 has been more impacted by the Trump presidency than the elections in Virginia. So, how are the voters feeling?

The New Jersey governor's race is a little too close for comfort, after New Jersey had one of the largest swings toward Donald Trump of any state in the country, and the Democratic candidate, Mikie Sherrill is on track for a sub-optimal performance on Election Day against a sometimes-MAGA Republican, Jack Ciattarelli.

Zohran Mamdani, the young, telegenic, democratic socialist state assemblyman, looks set to be NYC's next mayor. So how are New Yorkers feeling about turning the keys over to him?

For the last few weeks, the Trump administration has escalated its authoritarian impulses. But the voters are just getting mildly queasy.

We haven't caught up with Democratic voters since the summer. So, who do they see in the Democratic Party who is distinguishing themselves?

Charlie Kirk was one of the most important figures for Gen Z conservatives. What do they think his legacy was?

Donald Trump is bleeding support from Hispanic voters, including from some who voted for him. So, we found some former Trump voters who are souring on him, and asked them why.

The murder of Charlie Kirk was the culmination of Americans' long-brewing fear of political violence. Rachel Kleinfeld joins Sarah to discuss the ramifications of Kirk's death on the American body politic, and then Sarah discusses voters' fears of political violence that we've heard through the years.

Donald Trump has run into some summer doldrums...from the uncertainty in the economy, to his Big Beautiful Bill, to his refusal to come clean about Jeffrey Epstein. Ashley Parker, who's covered Trump for over a decade, joins Sarah for our season premiere.

The Focus Group Podcast will be back for real in a couple of weeks, but by popular demand, Sarah and her producer, Conor Kilgore, take on some of our listeners' frequently asked questions about how and why they do all these focus groups.

Our season finale is a bit of a pep talk. America is in a precarious place, but Americans everywhere are speaking up against the authoritarian threat.

The New York City mayoral primary is "dumb" and getting lots of "dumb attention," at least according to our (radically candid) guest. Democratic voters face a choice between disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the inexperienced socialist state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.

Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is moving through Congress, and you may be surprised by some former Trump voters' reactions.

The Democratic primary for New Jersey governor is crowded, and Democratic voters all over the map. But as always, they're united in wanting a candidate who can fight the Trump administration effectively.

With the recent revelations about Joe Biden's mental state during his term, we asked a couple of groups of Democrats what they thought during (and after) his presidency, and how it might inform their thinking going forward.

Trump is looking to pass his Big, Not-So-Beautiful Bill through Congress. To do it, he needs to get it past congressional Republicans. So what do Republican voters think of congressional leaders, and whether this bill is as big and beautiful as it seems?

JD Vance is one heartbeat away from the presidency, and he's a big part of the Republican Party's future. His ideas are also part of the reason the second Trump term has been a lot more pure MAGA than the first.

With Trump's approval ratings falling, that means some of his voters aren't getting what they voted for. We talked to those voters, to find out what that does and doesn't mean about their relationship to this administration.

Sarah didn't think she'd be looking to Bernie and AOC as examples of good Democratic communicators. But all of a sudden, they're some of the only people in the Democratic Party showing how to get the Trump opposition engaged.

Donald Trump's first 100 days in office have been marked by a lot of aspiring autocratic behavior...like deporting a legal resident without due process, targeting his political enemies, to walking right up to the line of ignoring the Supreme Court.

Trump has plunged the markets into chaos over the last couple of weeks with his tariffing, and un-tariffing, and possible re-tariffing. The Biden-to-Trump voters we've talked to were a mixed bag on this.

We've heard from a lot of Dems who want the party to be more moderate, and many who want the party to be more progressive. But they all agree that the party needs to fight harder in this moment.

We check in with Biden-Trump voters on Signal-gate, and talk to Trump's base about whether they'd want him for a third term and how they feel about the economy (which may surprise you). Plus, the state of the MAGA media ecosystem.

We're checking in with 2024's non-voters, and Sarah has a (friendly) fight with Jen Psaki over whether Kamala should have closed the 2024 campaign with Liz Cheney.

We check in on first-time Trump voters as his reign of chaos continues. Some love what they're getting, while others wonder when he'll get around to fixing the economy. Mark Leibovich joins Sarah.

Five years ago this week, the Covid pandemic came to the U.S., and with it a level of suffering and distrust of authority (and each other) we haven't fully reckoned with.

What do remaining pro-Ukraine Republicans think of America's role in the world? Tommy Vietor joins Sarah to discuss the future of foreign policy in Trump 2.0.

We're doing something different this week: We're giving you nearly an hour of audio from a recent focus group of men aged 18-29 who voted for Donald Trump in 2024.

Legendary tech reporter and Musk-whisperer Kara Swisher joins the show to discuss Musk's MAGA character arc and what his real motivations are with DOGE.

Plenty of Trump's newest voters wanted him to fix the border and deport criminals. Some are excited by what they're seeing, and some are getting more than they bargained for. Adrian Carrasquillo joins Sarah to discuss voter reactions, and the latest developments in Trump's immigration regime.

Where do Democratic voters want the party to go next? And how does the party need to be thinking differently? Adam Jentleson joins Sarah to discuss new ways to campaign and govern, as the party looks toward 2026 and 2028.

The voters in our focus groups are glad to see Trump "taking action." Sam Stein joins Sarah to talk about voters' reactions to his flurry of executive orders and how long his "honeymoon" may last.

Bulwark alum Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy joins Sarah to talk about what we should (and should not) be focused on over the next four years.

As Joe Biden leaves office, we're taking one last look at his presidency, and what we've heard said about him since 2020.

The podcast-sphere was one of the most covered election stories. Sarah and Tim turn over why the medium appeals to the newest Trump voters—and specifically Rogan fans.

We've discussed what Trump's newest voters found wanting about Democrats in '24. This week, we turn our attention to their affirmative case for Trump.

We've got (Thanksgiving) leftover focus group sound we didn't get to last week. JVL returns to parry with Sarah over whether this is a serious country still.

We're back for a post-election autopsy, starting with a deep dive on how Trump's newest voters found Kamala and the Democrats lacking.

Whatever happens, the focus groups over the last year-plus have given clues about what's motivating the swing voters for Trump, and those voting for Harris.

There's one thing Republican and Democratic strategists all agree on right now: no state is more likely to decide this election than Pennsylvania.

Jon Ralston helps break down Sarah's focus groups with PBS in Nevada, and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez discusses Arizona's abortion referendum and Kari Lake's attempt in the Senate race.

Michigan and Wisconsin aren't just presidential battlegrounds; their Senate races are getting more competitive down the stretch. How are swing voters thinking about their options?

The pundit class thought JD Vance performed better than Tim Walz in the VP debate. Voters had their own take. John Heilemann joins Sarah to review our focus groups reactions.

Some of today's first-time voters were 10 years old when Trump launched his first campaign, and that's certainly affected how they look at politics. Peter Hamby joins Sarah.