x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen

Each week Henry Olsen, columnist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, will talk about the presidential and congressional races with leading political journalists and analysts, people who are out in the field and won"t give you media spin. Find out who"s leading the pack and who"s an also-ran, with Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen.Listen to Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen, along with more than 40 other original podcasts, at Ricochet.com. No paid subscription required.

news politics

All Episodes

35:13

Trende Setting at the Top of the Year

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2026/01/08

We're finally just 10 months away from the 2026 midterms everyone's been on about since Trump returned to office! So to get us off to a good start, Henry sits down again with RealClearPolitics' Sean Trende. The duo considers the political waves that may ripple out from two potentially seismic Supreme Court decisions: Callais v. Louisiana and National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC; they search for precision in assessing the president's needed approval rating among registered voters to keep

en

28:40

Grievances of the Season

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/12/23

It's time for the annual Beyond the Polls Festivus episode! That's right, before you immerse yourself entirely into the holiday spirit, join Henry for one last rant of 2025. On his naughty list you'll find pollsters with dodgy models; an unrestrained Mr. President, who's back to tweeting and ugly truthing his way into unpopularity; and who can forget the centrist Democrats? Or, wait...how could we not forget them when they fail to deliver results? But it ain't all bad! Stay tuned to the end for

en

31:04

Resigners, Retirees, and a Roundup from Rocky Top

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/12/04

One week out from Thanksgiving, Henry's back in a mood to rant! He starts out in Tennessee to bring some clarity to the mixed messages you may be receiving from analyses of the special election. Next, he looks at how the economy and the shutdown may be weighing down Trump's approval rating, and considers how the dealmaker-in-chief could get his groove back. And finally, he takes a look at Marjorie Taylor Greene's decision to resign, considering how this and other coming retirements will complicate

en

24:23

A Primary Concern

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/11/20

American politics is so full of dazzling spectacles — campaigns and rallies, gotcha questions and scandals — that it's often lost on even knowledgeable spectators how much process matters in turning a candidate into a nominee. The Democratic National Committee is thinking along these lines as 2028 approaches, as evidenced by the Rules and Bylaws Committee's October resolution to consider changes to its nominating calendar. Longstanding member and Brookings fellow Elaine Kamarck returns to the show

en

43:25

To Win or Not to Win: Is that the Question?

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/11/13

One consolation of defeat is that it provides an opportunity to adapt to reality. Victors, on the other hand, tend to get lost in the high. Just a week before the Democratic Party's landslide last Tuesday, Simon Bazelon released the "Deciding to Win" report in the hopes of persuading liberal elites that they're alienating moderates within their traditional ranks. While the 70-page fact sheet has not been especially well-received on Bluesky, Simon gets a warm welcome from Henry, friend of political

en

34:55

About Tuesday Night...

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/11/06

The autopsy is in: Republicans were slaughtered. Henry's on a rant this week, and he's brought his scalpel to supply surgical analysis of the election results for the statewide races in Virginia and New Jersey, the mayoral melee in New York City, and even smaller items like the redistricting proposition in California. Henry surveys the big night for Democrats, revealing the extent to which it bodes well for the party looking to take back a federal branch or two in the coming years. Tune in to

en

38:50

Swingin' Virginia

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/10/30

They say "Virginia is for Lovers," but modest observers would hardly fail to notice that the state has developed a reputation for regularized breaks with whichever party is running things in nearby Washington, D.C. Old Dominion residents Henry and J. Miles Coleman of UVA's Center for Politics discuss the Republicans' chances of holding on in an election made wild by an especially surprising October. Plus, the two look North for a view of the face-off between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli; and

en

50:19

A New York State of Mind

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/10/23

Barring an unfathomable election day surprise, the thirty-four-year-old Zohran Mamdani will be moving into New York City's Gracie Mansion in January. The Democratic Socialist has made extraordinary promises to the citizens of the nation's largest city, and it's about time to start weighing the implications. To that end, Henry sits down with E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute. The two discuss the executive powers of the office itself, along with the various bodies (from the city council to the

en

50:30

Behind the Decision Desk

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/10/16

Listeners of this podcast have surely spent an election day evening glued to a screen as they watched results trickle in. But have you ever wondered how those results are disseminated? Or how races are called ahead of the final count? To get us up to speed on the process, Henry chats with Michael Prusser and Geoffrey Skelley of the preeminent election results provider, Decision Desk HQ. Tune in for a fascinating discussion on how data-driven political animals work around the clock to get you the

en

46:15

More Cowbell!

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/10/09

We're one week into the government shutdown, and every day it remains thus Democrats have reason to fear what OMB Director Russ "The Reaper" Vought is planning. This is only the latest development that has conservatives optimistic about the prospects of an American restoration. To that end, Henry chats with Eric Teetsel, CEO of the Center for Renewing America. Eric explains the CRA's founding under Vought in 2021 and what they're up to today, now that the MAGA movement has its people back in the

en

41:33

A Shutdown Amid Trench Warfare

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/10/02

Federal employees may be out of the office indefinitely, but politics breaks for no one in America. So Henry is back with a rant to keep us up on the unsettled terrain that partisans are clamouring over. He looks into how the government shutdown blame game might play out; he dives into the latest Economist/YouGov public opinion data to disentangle the issues that animate partisans and moderates; and then leaves the drama of Washington aside to check in on the approaching races in Virginia, New

en

45:17

A Conversation with We The People

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/09/25

The great trouble with contemporary polling comes down to drawing a representative analysis from one-word responses. It's not just polling sceptics that have noticed this limitation, which is why Scott Rasmussen of the Napolitan Institute teamed up with Yasmin Green, CEO of Google AI incubator Jigsaw, to create the We the People project ahead of our nation's 250th birthday. The initiative incorporates chatbot technology to draw Americans from all 435 congressional districts into a conversation that

en

48:31

Michele Tafoya, Off the Sidelines

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/09/18

If you've ever been of the habit this time of year to watch primetime professional football, you will have certainly encountered today's guest, Michele Tafoya. What you may not have known was that she was an astute observer of American politics. Now, with the NBC Sunday Night Football days behind her, Michele hosts her own podcast to discuss the matters she once had to keep off the field. Michele sat down with Henry to discuss her political awakening and conversion to conservatism; her frustrations

en

33:58

Chris Hayes on The Sirens' Call

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/09/11

The game has changed, and it's time to throw out the old playbook. So asserts Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's "All In with Chris Hayes," in his latest book, The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource. He and Henry sat down on Wednesday to discuss the most fought-after commodity of the Digital Age: attention. They explore how our sleek modern tools have altered the way campaigns are executed, and why the political winners of this century will be those who can wield the

en

43:09

Sorting Out The Storting

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/09/04

Norwegian polls close on Monday, and a whopping 10 parties are vying to expand their share of the 169 seats in the nation's parliamentary body, the Storting. Nils Andresen of Minerva, Norway's conservative periodical, joins Henry to discuss the tightening race between the dominant Red-Green and Civic Bloc coalitions, as well as the internal shuffling among their constituents. Tune in for a survey of the Labour Party's late recovery and the rise of the right-populist Progress Party, along with

en

51:28

Distinguishing Disarray from Disaster with Bill Galston

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/08/28

There's no denying that Democrats are in hot water after Donald Trump's surprising big win last November. The Brookings Institution's William Galston considers the party's oft-mentioned "disarray" to be exactly what one ought to expect under the circumstances. With many years of political advising under his belt and a cool head primed for strategic thinking, he chats with Henry about the Democratic Party's advantage heading into the midterms, the leadership vacuum, and the question of whether

en

42:07

A Mid-Decadal Clustercuss

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/08/21

Texas has fired the first shots of the redistricting war of 2025, so Henry's back with a rant for all who are still a tad confused, either by the controversy as it stands and/or where it's headed now that other states are drafting their own battle plans. Tune in for a detailed analysis of various states' statutes and cartographic reserves ahead of potential gerrymanders; essential data inputs to make sense of President Trump's approval rating; and a close look at the races that will determine

en

43:18

Hammering out the Meaning of MAGA

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/08/14

A decade has passed since Donald Trump rode down the golden escalator to initiate a movement to make America great again, but conflicts within the coalition emerge like clockwork, proving that a definitive interpretation remains elusive. Is MAGA simply the net effect of Donald Trump's musings and maneuvers? Or is there a core ideology that successors carry on when Trump exits and the realignment settles? Josh Hammer joins Henry today to answer these big-picture questions and to propose the essential

en

44:15

The Goose, the Gander, and the Gerrymander

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/08/07

Depending on who's in power, blatantly partisan redistricting may be derided as the ultimate dirty ploy or defended as a practical measure to cultivate fairer representation. The recent effort to carve out a few more safe Republican districts in Texas has set off blue state governors, with some preparing to "go nuclear." To help get our bearings amid proliferation threats, Henry brings back Kyle Kondik of Sabato's Crystal Ball for a deep assessment of how an escalating redistricting war might play

en

48:00

A Midsummer Day's Rant

Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen ·

2025/07/24

The president's approval rating is down some, and given the amount on his plate this month, it's hard to pin down exactly what's driving it. Today, Henry considers the effects of the piling matters of import, including lingering interest in the Jeffrey Epstein case, the "One Big Beautiful Bill," deportations, and Trump's fight with the Federal Reserve; he breaks down the balancing act of appeals to the political base against converts and independents, and puts the approval rating numbers in context

en

136 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci