The Biggest Political Divide Is Not Left vs. Right
About this episode
The central question: who are the politically disengaged voters who may decide the 2024 election, and what do they actually care about? Krupnikov, co-author of 'The Other Divide,' argues the defining split in American politics isn't left versus right but the involvement divide: a deeply engaged minority versus a large majority that avoids politics and holds different 'pictures in their heads' (Walter Lippmann's term). Her research finds the less engaged vote at meaningful rates, care more about bread-and-butter concerns like prices and the cost of living than abstract threats to democracy, and are barely moved by events like Trump's conviction — largely because they don't follow the news and distrust it. They absorb politics through an alternative ecosystem of podcasts, sports talk radio, and TikTok. Her advice to Biden: take these voters at their word rather than lecturing them on what they should care about.