Dialogue Across Difference Dialogue Across Difference Podcast by Center for the Study of Politics and Governance

Women will be a driving force in the epic elections in 2024 for president and congress. Anna Greenberg, one of the premier political consultants in the country, joins Professor Kathryn Pearson to pinpoint the critical issues and dynamics at play.

Anna Greenberg has worked on numerous prominent Democratic campaigns including those of Minnesota Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar. She won the “Pollster of the Year” award from the American Association of Political Consultants and has served on the boards of two premier survey research organizations - the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and the American National Election Study. Greenberg received a BA in Government from Cornell University and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

Finding common ground in Washington is rare and urgent. Rob Portman has a record of passing more than 200 bills that were signed into law by Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden. His leadership is exemplified by the 2021 infrastructure bill that builds an economic lifeline to the future, support to defend Ukraine’s freedom in the face of growing Republican resistance, and courageous defense of his son’s decision to come out as gay. In conversation with moderator Larry Jacobs, Rob Portman will draw on his three decades of experience working for two Republican Presidents and serving in Congress as a Republican Representative and US Senator to identify his approaches to achieving bipartisan progress.

About the Series:
The Nakasaka Dialogues stimulate conversations about the state of public life and encourage progress toward our shared bonds.

This event series is made possible by a generous contribution from Humphrey School of Public Affairs alumnus Kiyoshi Nakasaka.

Many Americans are on fire about the stakes in the 2024 elections. But what about those in the "other America" who are not interested? Who are they and why are they sitting out elections? We are joined by Professors Yanna Krupnikov who studies Americans who are less involved in day-to-day political outcomes and Markus Prior who investigates the sources and impacts of political interest. Professor Taylor Carlson moderates.

Science has been thrust into elections and political fights among lawmakers. Vaccinations against Covid, measles, and other contagious illnesses have provoked protests on the left and, especially, the right. Have Americans lost trust in science and the hope it once offered to bring progress? Why has science become another casualty of the fights between Democrats and Republicans? Join us for a discussion of these issues with the University of Rochester's Jamie Druckman and Cary Funk, past research director at Pew Research Center.

How does representative democracy in practice hold up to academic theories of how democratic representation should work? Lisa Disch is a professor of democratic theory who has crossed over to serve in government as a City Council member in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a middle-sized bright blue college town in a purplish state. Councilmember Disch reports on what the academy is missing or just gets wrong.

Animosity toward Joe Biden is at record highs among Republicans as they were among Democrats toward Donald Trump when he was in the White House. In the 2024 presidential election, we are likely to see more than 9 out of 10 voters who identify with the Democrat and Republican parties vote for their party's candidate. Why are Americans so polarized? Will voters defect from their Democratic or Republican party affiliations to support "the other" presidential candidate or a candidate representing the Green Party or No Labels party?