From: allin
Podcasts are increasingly becoming a significant factor in electoral politics, potentially playing a decisive role in elections, similar to how social media impacted the 2016 election [01:20:59]. This shift signifies a move from traditional media defining candidates to direct-to-consumer platforms, including podcasts, allowing candidates to deliver their messages directly to the public [01:46:37].
The Rise of the “Podcast Election”
The current political landscape marks the first “podcast election” [01:48:48]. Podcasts have amassed a large enough audience to exert significant influence [01:48:00]. The long-form interview format common in podcasts offers a highly informative experience for listeners [01:48:07]. Candidates can expound on topics and answer questions for potentially hours in an unscripted environment, making it challenging for them to hide their true selves [01:48:07].
Case Study: Donald Trump
Donald Trump has leveraged podcasts to his advantage in the US elections [01:48:42].
- Joe Rogan Interview: Trump’s interview with Joe Rogan garnered over 40 million views, potentially reaching 100 million total views [01:10:59]. This viewership is speculated to exceed that of the last two presidential debates combined (Trump-Harris 67 million, Trump-Biden 51 million) [01:13:02]. During his three-hour appearance, Trump demonstrated a deeper understanding of policy issues than he was often credited for and displayed a different personality than typically portrayed by traditional media [01:48:17].
- Countering Media Narratives: Podcasts have been particularly beneficial for Trump in a context where traditional media often portrayed him as an extreme figure [01:48:50]. By appearing on podcasts like All-In and Andrew Schulz’s show, he was able to present himself as a “normal, funny guy” who is policy-aware, creating a starkly different impression than what the media attempted to convey [01:49:07]. This strategy helped him overcome a major obstacle: getting people comfortable with the idea of a second Trump term [01:50:07].
Kamala Harris and Media Engagement
In contrast, Kamala Harris has been less willing to engage in long-form, unscripted interviews on platforms like Joe Rogan’s podcast [01:49:23]. Rogan reportedly required her to sit down for three hours in his Austin studio, a condition she has so far not met [01:49:30]. This reluctance is seen by some as indicative of her unwillingness to subject herself to the same kind of extensive, unscripted conversation that Trump has embraced [01:49:41]. While she has appeared on more “friendly” interviews, such as Call Her Daddy and Howard Stern, her team has reportedly tried to limit her appearances on more adversarial platforms like Fox News [01:51:53].
Authenticity and Viewer Perception
Podcasts offer an authentic conversational style, allowing candidates to be their “true self” over extended periods [01:45:40]. Listeners are considered discerning enough to differentiate signal from noise, making their own decisions about what they perceive as truthful and factual [01:59:57]. This direct and unfiltered interaction challenges the traditional media’s role as the sole arbiter of truth, as people no longer want to be “told what the truth is by some fake authority” [01:13:58].
Search Engine Bias and Media Trust
Discussions around podcast influence often intersect with concerns about media trust and potential search engine bias. For instance, there were complaints that the Joe Rogan-Trump interview was difficult to find on YouTube search, with clips often appearing before the full episode [01:53:36]. This phenomenon is partly attributed to search algorithms favoring monetized content and clips due to higher engagement, even for platforms like Joe Rogan’s podcast that do not enable ads [01:54:15].
However, some argue that Google search results display a significant bias against Donald Trump, surfacing negative or obscure articles as top results while favoring positive coverage for Kamala Harris [01:55:51]. This alleged bias is linked to the overwhelming majority of journalists at news publications identifying as left-leaning, leading to a Corpus of news that is largely left-leaning [01:04:27]. This dynamic underscores broader concerns about the declining public trust in institutions, including news media [01:41:41]. Confidence in television news, for example, has declined significantly, with 40% of Americans expressing no trust at all in mass media [01:42:13].