Politics in Question
by Julia Azari, Lee Drutman, and James Wallner
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On the show
Recent episodes
What Are the Rules and Procedures to SAVE America?
Apr 20, 2026
Unknown duration
Why Are Factions Valuable?
Apr 6, 2026
Unknown duration
Why Does Money Matter?
Mar 5, 2026
Unknown duration
Is the American Dream Dead?
Mar 5, 2026
Unknown duration
How Does Transformation Lead to Regression?
Jan 28, 2026
Unknown duration
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/20/26 | 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 James explore this week. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 4/6/26 | 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 from Within: How Factions Facilitate Deliberation and Lawmaking (FAI, 2026). How can factions help decentralize Congress's decision-making process? Where do factions come from? How do factions operate inside the House and Senate? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week's episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 3/5/26 | 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 Chicago Press, 2025). How does our current fundraising landscape reinforce inequality in politics? Who typically donates to political campaigns? How has the role of money in politics evolved over the last decade? These are some of the questions Lee explores in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 3/5/26 | 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 Polarize Politics (Russell Sage Foundation, 2025). Is the lack of the American Dream the fault of the individual or of systemic factors? What role does partisanship play in individuals’ beliefs about meritocracy? Why do we justify unfair systems? These are some of the questions Lee explores in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 1/28/26 | 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). How have presidents shaped racial norms? Why was President Andrew Johnson a “backlash president”? What role does Congress play in coalition-building and norm shaping? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 12/19/25 | 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 it take to reinvigorate dimensionality in party politics? These are some of the questions Lee and James ask in this week’s episode.Links to the previous episodes referenced:Why do Americans use primary elections to select candidates for office? (featuring Robert Boatright)How did the Great Migration help shape today's politics? (featuring Keneshia Grant) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 11/6/25 | 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 autocracy and authoritarianism? What role does civil resistance play in sustaining democracy? These are some of the questions Lee asks in this week's episode of Politics in Question. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 10/30/25 | 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 shutdown? How do you "win" a shutdown? What will be the future political costs for the Democratic Party in trying to make a healthcare policy deal? These are the questions that James and Lee explore in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 10/22/25 | 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? What can polling data actually tell us about a candidate’s performance in an election? What factors cannot be measured through polling? These are the questions that Lee explores in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 10/16/25 | 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 Institute, Faculty Director of the P3 Research Lab, and author of Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church (Knopf, 2024).What are the mechanics of creating collective action? How is power negotiated and built within social movements? And what role do researchers play in shaping our understanding of political systems and power? These are the questions Lee and Julia explore in this week’s episode.Note: This episode is a rebroadcast, originally recorded in October 2024. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
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| 9/11/25 | 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 exactly is a rescission, and how does it work? How does a “pocket rescission” differ from the normal process? Should lawmakers amend the Budget Act? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week’s episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. | — | ||||||
| 8/28/25 | 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 report, The Age Divide, published by Protect Democracy (2025). | — | ||||||
| 8/6/25 | 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 ?” | — | ||||||
| 7/23/25 | What's the Future of Casework? | In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee discusses with Anne Meeker how case work and constituent services would work under proportional representation. | — | ||||||
| 6/25/25 | Do We Need Conflict in American Politics? | How can conflict drive change? How do our current views of partisanship and conflict inform decision-making? How does who controls the scope of conflict shape democratic participation? | — | ||||||
| 6/11/25 | Who Has the Power? | What are the boundaries of presidential power? How has power been centralized within the Executive Branch throughout history? What role does partisan politics play in the current conflicts over the separation of powers? | — | ||||||
| 6/4/25 | What Happened to Our Political Parties? | Why do we need strong political parties? What is the foundation for a “good” political party? And how do we get them? | — | ||||||
| 5/28/25 | Where Does Christianity Fit in American Politics? | How new and distinct is this version of Christianity in American public life? What has been the historical role of Christianity in American democracy? And what exactly is civic theology? | — | ||||||
| 3/5/25 | Do We Need to Redefine Democracy? | What are the origins of deliberative democracy? What is the role of participation in the 21st century? How should we think about democracy beyond individual decision-making? | — | ||||||
| 2/5/25 | What Defines a Political Scandal? | What's the difference between an honest mistake and a scandal? How does the political landscape contextualize how we think about corruption? When does corruption become framed as normalcy? | — | ||||||
| 1/22/25 | Have We Entered a New Constitutional Order? | How has the rise of new institutions shifted our constitutional order? How does polarization today differ from other eras? What changes have occurred in local political parties from the 1960s to now? | — | ||||||
| 1/15/25 | How Did the Heartland Go Red? | How do people grow partisan attachments within their social groups? What are the crucial elements of class? How do national party politics translate to local party organizing? | — | ||||||
| 12/25/24 | How Do We Fix Political Dysfunction? | How should the media cover elections? In what ways is power being used to shape policy? Should we build political parties through existing social networks? | — | ||||||
| 12/3/24 | Is Democracy Under Threat? | What are the risks to American democracy? How do social and economic hierarchies influence the functioning of democracy? Who defines democratic values? | — | ||||||
| 12/2/24 | 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. How have voting rights laws, policies, and practices evolved over time? How has the Shelby County v. Holder decision impacted voting laws within states? Is there a correlation between state laws and voter turnout among communities of color? These are some of the questions Lee explores in this week’s episode. Note: This episode was recorded in July 2024. | — | ||||||
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Chart Positions
2 placements across 2 markets.
Chart Positions
2 placements across 2 markets.