With the US Election heating up, here’s some podcasts providing the best analysis ahead of polling day.
The News Agents: USA, the spin-off of The News Agents, is presented by Jon Sopel and Emily Maitlis. Their latest episode looks at why Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is struggling with minority voters and whether this is part of a larger trend.
The Rest is Politics: US is a partnership between journalist Katty Kay and the former (and very brief) Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. With polls between Harris and Trump tightening, their latest episode also looks at what could be holding Kamala back. There’s also a five part series looking at how Trump defied the odds and won the US Election back in 2016.
The BBC’s Americast has now weekly episodes on BBC Radio 5 Live, featuring “Americanswers” … that’s responses to questions sent in by listeners. And from tomorrow (Monday 21st October) there will be daily episodes to polling day itself.
American Friction comes from the makers of the British podcast Oh God, What Now? and features a humorous take on the latest developments every Friday. The Guardian’s columnist Jonathan Freedland has his own podcast called Politics Weekly America and The Times’ How To Win An Election, which originally launched to cover the UK General Election earlier this year, has now extended its remit to also cover the US.
And this isn’t just a one way street with commentators analysing the campaign from behind the mic. As Ashley Carman points out in the most recent edition of her excellent Soundbite newsletter, the candidates and their respective VP picks have been guesting on countless shows themselves including Call Her Daddy (Harris), Pod Save America (Waltz), Lex Fridman (Trump) and The Interview (Vance).
