KQED's Forum

Forum brings you continued analysis of state and national election results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer prize-winning historian Jon Meacham shed light on the current climate of partisanship and division in his book “The Soul of America”, where he examined pivotal moments in U.S history from the Civil War through Jim Crow to show how -- in Abraham Lincoln’s words -- the “better angels of our nature” usually win. Meacham, whose newest book is “His Truth is Marching on: John Lewis and the Powe...

Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in the US presidential race grew on Wednesday, with wins announced in Wisconsin and Michigan.  President Trump’s campaign says it will sue to halt vote counting in Michigan and Pennsylvania, claiming that its observers have not been given “meaningful” access to review the ballot counting process. There have been no official reports of ballot fraud or irregulariti...

Forum brings you continued analysis of state and national election results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America woke up to an undecided presidential election with states including Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin still counting millions of ballots. Even so, President Trump falsely and recklessly claimed victory, while challenger Joe Biden called for the votes to be counted. Meanwhile, Republicans appeared to retain control of the US senate, while Democrats kept the House. In California, Propositio...

Americans are highly engaged in this year’s presidential election, and they are not alone.  The campaign has riveted people across the globe. Just like at home, President Donald Trump has garnered plenty of critics abroad for his xenophobia, denial of climate change and mistreatment of immigrants, but also some ardent supporters. During the past four years, Trump made a point of talking tough agai...

On Election Day, we check in with Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation about how voting is going around the state and take your last-minute questions. We want to hear from you: what do the polls look like in your area? KQED is partnering with ProPublica to report on issues voters face at the polls. If you are experiencing long lines, problems with voting machines, or voter intimidation...

We're in the final stretch of the election, and while most of the attention is on Trump vs. Biden, Democrats and Republicans are also locked in an intense battle for control of Congress. Led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrats took the House in 2018 and are expected to retain control of that chamber. And although the GOP controls the Senate, it is struggling to keep its slim majority. We’ll discuss...

As Americans draw political battle lines over everything from mask-wearing to immigration policy to post-election ballot-counting, it can feel as if the nation’s never been so ideologically divided. But historians say that Americans have always been deeply split on major policy issues -- it’s just that those splits haven’t fallen along partisan lines as sharply as they do today. We’ll look at past...

California is experiencing a record number of early votes with over 9 million ballots cast as of Friday. Secretary of State Alex Padilla is encouraging voters to keep it up as high turnout and COVID-19 safety protocols will likely lead to longer lines on Election Day. We'll check in with Sec. Padilla about early voting, how to make sure your ballot gets counted and what to expect when voting in pe...

After election ballots are cast, the spotlight turns to the Electoral College with its 538 electors.  Unlike most elections in the U.S., the presidency is decided not directly by voters, but by members of the Electoral College, who are assigned based on the results of the popular vote in each state.  In this hour, we break down the role of the Electoral College and hear why there’s ongoing debate...

Is the presidential election keeping you up at night? Straining your relationships? Maybe even giving you panic attacks? You’re not alone. An American Psychological Association survey found that nearly 70% of adults in the U.S. are finding the election a significant source of stress. That’s a dramatic jump since 2016, and it’s worse for Democrats than Republicans. What are you doing to calm your n...

President Donald Trump has made restricting immigration a central component of his administration and campaign messaging. On the other side, former Vice President Joe Biden has promised to reverse some of Trump’s policies, such as family separation, setting up a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and to establish a “fair and humane” immigration system. With the election approaching n...

San Francisco has moved very cautiously thus far in the coronavirus pandemic, recently distinguishing itself for being the first California city to reach the “minimal” spread tier on the state’s coded system.  And while the Bay Area is reporting the first significant uptick in cases since August, regional numbers are far lower than a growing national outbreak.  San Francisco Department of Public H...

Dia de los Muertos, the annual Latin American tradition of honoring the dead, will take on a special significance this year, in which the pandemic has created a collective sense of grief. While coronavirus has impacted everyone, Latinos have disproportionately felt the brunt of the pandemic both in terms of deaths and economic hardship. Dia de los Muertos is, in essence, a time of confronting deat...

Every election cycle includes “Get Out the Vote” campaigns, but the 2020 election is seeing extraordinary levels of voter enthusiasm, engagement and messaging -- even amidst the pandemic. Research shows that the U.S. lags behind most other democratic countries when it comes to voter turnout. This year, however, states across the country are shattering early voting records, signaling the potential...

Families across California will finally be permitted to visit loved ones in nursing homes, after months of being unable to have in-person visits. Updated guidelines released Friday allow indoor visits in California’s 46 counties currently in red, orange and yellow tiers; it also only applies to long-term care facilities, like nursing homes, but not to assisted or independent living communities. We...

New York City, an international travel hub and region with 19 million people, was particularly vulnerable to a fast-spreading pandemic like coronavirus.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new book “American Crisis” takes stock of what his state  and its largest city have been through, details the shortfalls of the federal response, and offers a blueprint for future outbreaks. Learn more about your...

Major recent polls suggest that former Vice President Joe Biden will defeat President Donald Trump by a decisive margin in next week's election. A simulation by FiveThirtyEight shows Biden winning 88 times in 100, and a model from The Economist puts Biden’s chances of winning the electoral college at 95%. But for the obsessive poll watchers who in 2016 were shocked by Trump's win, today's numbers...

Published two decades ago, political scientist Robert Putnam’s bestselling book “Bowling Alone” struck a nerve with its stark warning about loosening social and political cohesion in America. In their new book “The Upswing”, Putnam and co-author Shaylyn Romney Garrett offer solutions for improving civic life in a country beset by COVID-19 and a divisive election. Putnam and Garrett join Forum to t...

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN Sunday that the U.S. is “not going to control the pandemic,” because “it is a contagious virus just like the flu.” But thinking of COVID-19 like the flu and employing a flu-pandemic playbook is not an effective response, according to sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In her latest piece for The Atlantic, Tufekci highlights a factor she says is key to this...

California prison officials frequently fail to enforce mask requirements for prison staff and inmates to stop the spread of coronavirus. That's according to a report issued Monday by the California Office of the Inspector General, which noted that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has reported that 69 incarcerated persons and 10 staff members have died of COVID-19 as of Oct. 7. We'l...

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo joins us to discuss how his city is faring as the coronavirus pandemic wears on. Last week, the city unveiled the first of three emergency housing projects with 78 rooms to provide shelter for homeless people. Meanwhile, the city emerged as an economic bright spot in September by adding 9,000 jobs, but close to half of the city’s downtown storefronts remain shuttered. C...

New reports of foreign election interference emerged this week when national security officials announced that Iran and Russia obtained voter registration data that could be used to threaten voters and sow discord ahead of the November election. In an advisory Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security further called out Iranian actors for spoofing legitimate media sites to spread misinformatio...

In her new podcast and radio show “Our Body Politic,” journalist Farai Chideya reports on how women of color experience the major political events of today and how they’re impacting those very issues. The show also explores how we might collectively rebuild America in ways that nourish women of color and their communities. Chideya, who has covered the past six presidential elections for outlets in...