Cross Tabs

Britain has spent a century as a two-party country. That may be over - and this week's local elections may be the strongest signal yet of a big breakup. This week, I talk with Matthew Price, analyst and strategist at Focal Data in London, about what's happening to British politics right now — and what the polls are (and aren't) able to tell us about it. They cover what the 2024 MRP polls got wrong...

What happens when the people making decisions on your behalf are running on fumes? In this episode, I talk with Lindsay Scola — former advance person for Barack Obama, Hill staffer, and now sleep health educator — about the always-on culture of American political life, and what it actually costs us. From the Celsius cans visible in every Capitol hallway walk-and-talk, to the pharmacy hand-deliveri...

The Roper Center at Cornell holds the world's oldest social science archive — over 25,000 data sets, nearly 900,000 survey questions, dating all the way back to the 1930s. It's a record not just of politics and elections, but of ordinary life: have you ever spent a night in jail? Would you tell a five-year-old not to lie about seeing a purple dragon? Do you remember the color of your first love's...

In this episode, I sit down with Charlie Sabgir to unpack the "unprecedented gender gap" facing Gen Z. We dive into new research concerning the economic and social behaviors of young men—from the "gamification" of their finances through crypto and sports betting to their surprising nostalgia for unions and traditional stability. The conversation explores why the "manosphere" is winning the narrati...

It's likely that Democrats will retake the House this fall. But the most important question for a new majority is this: what will they use the power for? This conversation is part of an ongoing series of interviews and explorations I plan to do this year trying to answer a slightly modified version of that question - what should the power be for? One answer to that question is paid leave for all....

Cross Tabs End Notes The hardest thing to do in polling it seems is to accurately guess who the voters will be. Pollsters get better and better at weighting samples to more accurately reflect observable characteristics of voters, which is why the forecasts keep getting close to the center of the bullseye. But there are still these harder to observe characteristics that it's almost impossible to mo...

We're living in a time ruled by old men. And honestly, it's not going great. The richest, most powerful men on the planet - billionaires and political leaders alike - are well over 70, on average. Meanwhile, young people are suffering from the high cost of living, unaffordable housing, high consumer debt, and political unrest. Based on recent polling , they're not happy. The right has made a long...

There's an unreality about this political moment. It makes it hard to hold people's attention, to create any kind of focus on any issue or event or action. People don't know what's real, what's certain, what's not just for dumb show. And that is both by design, and the output, of totalitarian thinking. Aesthetics are ever-present in politics - the color of a suit, or whether someone even wears one...

Conor Kilgore is a producer of The Focus Group Podcast, and a qualitative researcher at Longwell Partners - and he joined host Farrah Bostic to discuss the value of listening to real people talk about their real beliefs and experiences in their own words. And he brought clips! We also discussed his journey into this work via work on political campaigns, and got as deep into the weeds as possible o...

Keeping up our monthly Mood Swings discussion of polling and political strategy news that enrages, confuses, and inspires, host Farrah Bostic and guest Lauren Goldstein discuss the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, which explores American voters' opinions on a wide range of current events. We discussed the question types, answer options, and interpretation of the fairly extensive data - and beg researcher...

Farrah is joined by Kevin Collins, co-founder and Chief Research Officer at Survey 160, about the applicability of AI in survey methodologies, the perils of synthetic sample, and the importance of respondent preferences when it comes to survey mode and the respondent experience. We discussed Kevin's findings in some early explorations of available tools about the impact on data quality, the potent...

In this episode of Cross Tabs, host Farrah Bostic discusses the intricacies of the current political climate and the emotional toll with guest Lauren Goldstein, author of the 'Mind the Gap' newsletter. The conversation touches on the overwhelming events of the last month, including ICE raids, National Guard actions, and the shutdown. Lauren shares her own struggles with the civic mood and together...

 Today on the show, we are diving deep into the fast changing world of political campaigns with someone who's had a front row seat to its transformation. Dr. Michael D. Cohen is the CEO of Cohen Research Group. A leading firm at the intersection of politics, public affairs, and corporate strategy. He's the creator of the Congress in your Pocket suite of AI powered mobile apps, and teaches digital...

Farrah Bostic talks with G. Elliott Morris, the founder of Strength in Numbers (and author of a book by the same name) to discuss the evolution of data journalism and the critical role of public opinion polling in a healthy democracy. Morris, formerly of The Economist and FiveThirtyEight, shares his vision for a new era of "pollster-driven poll journalism" and how he aims to fill a crucial gap in...

On July 1, I sat down to talk to Scott Keeter and Hannah Hartig from Pew Research about their 2024 Validated Voter Survey. We talked about the challenges of analyzing elections using panel data, and about the shifts in makeup of the electorate between 2020 and 2024, and what that means for how campaigns think about balancing turnout and persuasion strategies. More than anything, they tell us, mobi...

In this episode, Farrah Bostic is joined by messaging strategist, author, and  Words to Win By  host  Anat Shenker-Osorio  for a wide-ranging and incisive conversation about political communication, campaign strategy, and why so much of what the Democratic Party does feels like a missed opportunity. Together, they explore: How Anat’s early fascination with language and justice...

After a brief break, Cross Tabs returns with a must-hear conversation between host Farrah Bostic and journalist-pollster Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN’s Editor of Polling and Election Analytics. Ariel shares insights from over a decade of political polling and reporting, shedding light on how polls get designed, interpreted, and communicated—and why public opinion is more nuanced, contradictory, and dyn...

We've been off for about a month. But we've been busy. Check out our new trailer, and don't forget to like and subscribe to get new episodes each Wednesday.

The wealth divide is reshaping consumer markets, with 10% of households now driving 50% of all consumer spending in America while the majority struggle with inflation and debt. This economic distortion, hidden by misleading averages, is now colliding with new international tariffs that threaten to remove entire categories of goods from store shelves.  In this episode of Cross Tabs, Farrah int...

Educational attainment has become the new fault line in American politics, creating unexpected coalitions that cross racial boundaries. Research reveals a surprising shift of working-class voters across all demographics toward populist candidates who promise to fight for their interests rather than cater to college-educated elites. Political researcher Patrick Ruffini, co-founder of Echelon Insigh...

Government efficiency is often misunderstood, with dangerous consequences when technology leaders wield power without understanding civic infrastructure. Today’s conversation explores what resilience means in technology and governance, examining how Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" approach threatens critical systems that serve vulnerable populations.  In this episode of Cross Ta...

Polling reveals most Americans support abortion access in almost every circumstance, even when they identify as "pro-life." Looking beneath surface-level survey questions shows that when people are asked about specific situations rather than abstract labels, 80% believe abortion should be legal, and even self-described pro-life voters support legal abortion in most medical circumstances or cases o...

The invisible rulers of the internet are no longer just PR consultants and advertisers, but algorithms and influencers who shape our bespoke realities through immersive persuasion. Social media platforms have transformed from places to connect with friends to ecosystems where propaganda thrives, creating fragmented information environments that leave users swimming in increasingly polarized conten...

Religious nationalism manifests differently across the globe, with some surprising patterns emerging from cross-national research. The concept extends beyond legal frameworks into cultural values, with the US standing out among high-income countries for believing the Bible should influence laws, even though only 6% of Americans qualify as religious nationalists.  In this episode of Cross Tabs...

The Democratic Party brand has hit historic lows despite Republican extremism, with nearly half of Democratic voters disapproving of their own party representatives in Congress. This crisis in party confidence reflects a failure in messaging strategy, with Democrats needing to centralize their communication and directly attribute economic hardship to Republican policies rather than using vague ins...