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Checks and Balance from The Economist
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How did two old, unpopular men end up running for the world's most demanding job? It’s the question John Prideaux, The Economist’s US editor, gets asked the most. And the answer lies in the peculiar politics of the baby boomers.
Since 1992, every American president bar one has been a white man born in the 1940s. That run looks likely to span 36 years - not far off the age of the median American. This cohort was born with aces in their pockets. Their parents defeated Nazism and won the cold war. They hit the jobs market at an unmatched period of wealth creation. They have benefitted from giant leaps in technology, and in racial and gender equality.
And yet, their last act in politics sees the two main parties accusing each other of wrecking American democracy. As the boomers near the end of their political journey, John Prideaux sets out to make sense of their inheritance and their legacy.
Launching July 2024.
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Trump that: the 2024 election
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Election results: a brief message from John Prideaux
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Endorsement time: our pick for president
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North Carolina on my mind: Checks and Balance live
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Gender agenda: men, women and the election
48:16|The 2024 election is a gendered election, and not just because a man is running against a woman. The parties are telling very different stories about gender, and men and women are growing apart in their political preferences. Will gender decide the presidential election?John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by Dan Cassino of Fairleigh Dickinson University and The Economist’s Sacha Nauta.We’ll be recording next week’s podcast live at UNC Chapel Hill on Tuesday October 22nd. To join us in the audience sign up here.Runtime: 48 minTranscripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcastsListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.
Policy agreement: the candidates’ planks
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A key Keystone: the race for Pennsylvania
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Woke croaks: “peak woke” has passed
50:31|Over the past decade a form of wokeness arose on the illiberal left, characterised by extreme pessimism about America and its capacity to make progress. Analysis by The Economist of how influential these ideas are today finds that wokeness peaked in 2021-22 and has since receded. Why is America becoming less “woke”? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by The Economist’s Ainslie Johnstone and Sacha Nauta, and Professor Musa al-Gharbi of Stony Brook University.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.