Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation, and dubious culture wars, while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward, we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void – diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”. We can find a shared political reality if we are willing.
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PR ABROAD: Australian Political Primer + Panda Diplomacy | S02E07 | Political Reality
Season 2 · Episode 7
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 • Duration 01:02:41
https://www.patreon.com/c/politicalreality
PREVIEW: WAR: why don't we stop having them? | S02E06 | Political Reality
Season 2 · Episode 6
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 • Duration 10:26
FULL EPISODE
https://www.patreon.com/politicalreality/posts/war-why-dont-we-170386581
1. ⚔️ Sun Tzu (circa 500 BCE), The Art of Warhttps://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html
2. 🏛️ Thucydides (circa 400 BCE), History of the Peloponnesian War (brief overview here)https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7142/7142-h/7142-h.htmhttps://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/thucydides
3. 🌐 Morgenthau (1949), Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (overview here)http://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/04%20Conflict%20with%20States%20as%20Unitary%20Actors/Morgenthau%20-%20Politics%20among%20nations%20(selected%20chapters).pdfhttps://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/morgenthau-advances-realist-school-power-politics
4. 🎓 By the way, many of these classic texts are currently available as PDFs on Branislav Sanchez’s course page for an international relations course he teaches at UCSD. Happy reading, and thanks, Prof. Sanchez for making these available! The syllabus on this page also offers a fantastic rundown of many of the themes we covered in this episode (plus many more, and deeper divers – enjoy!).https://polisci.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/faculty-directory/currently-active-faculty/slantchev-profile.htmlhttp://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/
5. 📘 Waltz (1959), Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysishttps://pages.ucsd.edu/~bslantchev/courses/ps240/02%20Levels%20of%20Analysis%20and%20Strategic%20Choice/Waltz%20-%20Man,%20The%20State,%20and%20War.pdf
6. ♟️ Schelling (1960), The Strategy of Conflicthttps://www.sackett.net/Strategy-of-Conflict.pdf
7. 💥 Blainey (1973), The Causes of Warhttps://archive.org/details/causesofwar0000blai/page/n5/mode/2up
8. 🔗 Keohane & Nye (1977), Power and Interdependencehttp://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/05%20Cooperation%20with%20States%20as%20Unitary%20Actors/Keohane%20&%20Nye%20-%20Power%20and%20interdependence%20%5BCh%201-3%5D.pdf
9. 🌎 Waltz (1979), Theory of International Politicshttp://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/03%20Anarchy,%20Hierarchy,%20and%20Sovereignty/Waltz%20-%20Theory%20of%20International%20Politics%20(Ch%205-8).pdf
10. 🤝 Keohane (1984), After Hegemonyhttp://slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/ps240/05%20Cooperation%20with%20States%20as%20Unitary%20Actors/Keohane%20-%20After%20Hegemony%20%5BCh%204-6%5D.pdf
11. 🔄 Axelrod (1984), The Evolution of Cooperationhttps://bert.stuy.edu/pbrooks/spring2015/materials/HumanReasoning-2/Axelrod_Robert_The_Evolution_of_Cooperation.pdf
12. 🗳️ Fearon (1994), “Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes”https://web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Domestic-Political-Audiences-and-the-Escalation-of-International-Disputes.pdf
13. ⚖️ Fearon (1995), “Rationalist Explanations for War”https://web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Rationalist-Explanations-for-War.pdf
14. 🕊️ B. Bueno de Mesquita et al. (1999), “An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic Peace”https://www.jstor.org/stable/2586113
15. 🌍 Mearsheimer (2001), The Tragedy of Great Power Politicshttps://wwnorton.com/books/9780393349276
16. 📜 Fortna (2003), “Scraps of Paper? Agreements and the Durability of Peace”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/scraps-of-paper-agreements-and-the-durability-of-peace/70A924CC6B4785C30BADF415244FFA1F
17. 🏢 Koremenos et al. (2003), “The Rational Design of International Institutions”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/rational-design-of-international-institutions/29B784E99033C7B3FC0564B96A64FE21
18. 🧩 Ruggie (2005), “What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-utilitarianism and the Social Constructivist Challenge.”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/what-makes-the-world-hang-together-neoutilitarianism-and-the-social-constructivist-challenge/0160858E3E6D4D6468C926BCD6654FE9
19. 🔎 E. Bueno de Mesquita (2005), “The Quality of Terror”https://www.jstor.org/stable/3647729
20. 🧠 Wendt (2009), “Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/anarchy-is-what-states-make-of-it-the-social-construction-of-power-politics/B03BC7C9AAC5211B6DC319C077C1A854
21. 🤝 Walter (2009), “Bargaining Failures and Civil War”https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.101405.135301
22. ❓ Ramsay (2017), “Information, Uncertainty, and War”https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051215-022729
23. 📚 Chenoweth et al. (eds.) (2019), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorismhttps://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28267
24. 🤖 Murphy, et al. (2024), “The Promise of Machine Learning in Violent Conflict Forecasting”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/data-and-policy/article/promise-of-machine-learning-in-violent-conflict-forecasting/40D559ADA18FF7308915B08956B4E8F3
25. 📊 Some datasets we mentioned: Correlates of War, Uppsala conflict data program, Fragile states index
Correlates of War:https://correlatesofwar.org/
Uppsala conflict data program:https://ucdp.uu.se/
Fragile states index:https://fragilestatesindex.org/
How climate change got politicized | S02E05 | Political Reality
Season 1 · Episode 5
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 • Duration 01:00:26
PREVIEW: Who has more diversity of thought: Democrats or Republicans? (Sorry Independents) | S02E04 | Political Reality
Season 2 · Episode 4
Thursday, September 10, 2026 • Duration 10:26
FULL EPISODE
1. 🧠 Dias et al. (2025), “American partisans vastly under-estimate the diversity of other partisans’ policy attitudes.”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/american-partisans-vastly-underestimate-the-diversity-of-other-partisans-policy-attitudes/CD71B9D75D10CFA0A9A07501E1CCD81A#article
2. 👥 A few corporate-focused diversity of thought resources (Scott E. Page was my Ph.D. advisor so bias alert):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_E._Page
📘 1. Page (2007; 2025 second edition), The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies
📗 2. Page (2019), The diversity bonus: How great teams pay off in the knowledge economy
📄 3. Page & Hong (2004), “Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers” https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0403723101
3. 📊 Democrats tend to be more diverse along many (not all) standard demographic/identity dimensions: Pew researchhttps://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/the-changing-demographic-composition-of-voters-and-party-coalitions/
4. 🎓 Republicans tend to be more diverse along education (depending on how you measure it!): More Pewhttps://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/partisanship-by-race-ethnicity-and-education/
5. 📰 Older work on diversity of Democrat vs. Republican news consumption: Pew again!https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/section-1-media-sources-distinct-favorites-emerge-on-the-left-and-right/
6. 📱 More recent shifts in news consumption: rise of online, proliferation on the right
🌐 Rise of online: https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/23818/2025-10-28/shifts-political-news-consumption.html
➡️ Proliferation on the right: https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-dominates-online-media-ecosystem-seeping-sports-comedy-and-other-supposedly
7. 📲 Chang et al. (2025), “Liberals and conservatives share information differently on social media”https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40697192/
8. 🕸️ Lüders et al. (2023), “Attitude networks as intergroup realities: Using network-modeling to research attitude-identity relationships in polarized political contexts.”https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjso.12665
9. 📊 American National Election Studies (ANES) data on:
⚕️ 1. Abortion https://electionstudies.org/data-tools/anes-guide/anes-guide.html?chart=abortion_by_law
🌎 2. Immigration https://electionstudies.org/data-tools/anes-guide/anes-guide.html?chart=immigrants_should_be_decreased_increased
🔎 3. Guns https://electionstudies.org/data-tools/anes-guide/anes-guide.html?chart=gun_purchase_control
10. 🤔 Other background on ways we misunderstand each other:
📄 1. Ahler (2014), “Self-fulfilling misperceptions of polarization” https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381614000085
📄 2. Enders & Armaly (2018), “The differential effects of actual and perceived polarization.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-018-9476-2
📄 3. Ahler & Sood (2018), “The parties in our heads: Misperceptions about party composition and their consequences.” https://repository.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:605549/datastream/PDF/view
📝 4. Garton et al. (working paper; not peer-reviewed yet, but just to explore some of the latest/current/ongoing research), “Partisans overestimate their side’s intolerance.” https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7579935/v1
Are Americans getting less religious? w/ Dr. Melissa Deckman | S02E03 | Political Reality
Season 2 · Episode 3
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 • Duration 59:05
**1. ⛪ Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI):**
https://prri.org/
---
**2. 👩🏫 More on Dr. Melissa Deckman:**
https://www.melissadeckman.com/
---
**3. 📊 2025 PRRI Census on American Religion**
https://prri.org/spotlight/2025-prri-census-of-american-religion/
---
**4. 🗺️ Mapping abortion views across the 50 states: Insights from PRRI’s 2025 American Values Atlas**
https://prri.org/research/mapping-abortion-views-across-the-50-states-insights-from-prris-2025-american-values-atlas/
---
**5. ✝️ Collection of PRRI’s research on Christian Nationalism**
https://prri.org/prri-research/prri-issues/christian-nationalism/
---
**6. 📚 Melissa’s most recent book: *The politics of Gen Z: How the youngest voters will shape our democracy***
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-politics-of-gen-z/9780231560085/
---
**7. 🔬 More of Melissa’s (many!) books and (prolific!) papers and other research here**
https://www.melissadeckman.com/research
---
**8. 📱 Follow/watch/read/learn more from PRRI on their:**
**▶️ 1. YouTube**
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1GzzUoUV9zsSB-FEOJDryg
**📸 2. Instagram**
https://www.instagram.com/prripoll/
**💼 3. LinkedIn**
https://www.linkedin.com/company/public-religion-research-institute/
**📰 4. Substack**
https://prri.substack.com
---
**9. 💝 And you can always donate to their nonprofit work if you feel so moved!**
https://prri.org/donate/
PREVIEW: Why haven't we had a woman president? | S02E02 | Political Reality
Season 2 · Episode 2
Thursday, August 27, 2026 • Duration 10:26
1. 📊 Burns et al. (2025), What’s happened to the gender gap in political activity? Social structure, politics, and political participation in the United Stateshttps://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/whats-happened-to-the-gender-gap-in-political-activity/1A6EFA30E995F841B8D61D6EDEC0F777?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark
2. 📄 Burns et al. (2018), “What’s happened to the gender gap in political participation? How might we explain it?”https://academic.oup.com/book/5111/chapter-abstract/147698891?redirectedFrom=fulltext
3. 📚 Burns et al. (2009), The private roots of public action: Gender, equality, and political participationhttps://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.4159/9780674029088/html
4. 🗳️ Lawless & Fox (2019), “A Trump effect? Women and the 2018 midterm elections”https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/for-2018-0038/html
5. 🎯 Fox & Lawless (2023), “The invincible gender gap in political ambition”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/invincible-gender-gap-in-political-ambition/547D8E289D82299856644844269E2FC9
6. 📈 Fox & Lawless (2022), “The gender gap in political ambition: Everything you need to know in ten charts” (not a peer-reviewed research paper; rather, is a helpful PDF with some charts of broad trends)https://thelawmakers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Gender-Gap-in-Political-Ambitions_Report_Final-Jen-Lawless-2022-3-1.pdf
7. ⚖️ Hayes & Lawless (2021), “The contingent effects of sexism in primary elections”https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10659129211043134
8. 🧠 Dolan & Lawless (2021), “The importance of political science for understanding the developmental roots of gender gaps in politics”https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1047840X.2021.1930762
9. 📝 Dolan & Lawless (working paper), “Gender bias in primary elections? Survey says no” (note this is a working paper, which means it is still in progress and has not been peer reviewed)https://www.dannyhayes.org/uploads/6/9/8/5/69858539/dolan_and_lawless_ncapsa_paper.pdf
10. 🏛️ Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) graph of percentage of members of Congress who are women (plus lots of other data and historical information)https://cawp.rutgers.edu/data/levels-office/congress#Current
11. 👥 Overview of voter attitudes towards women in elections (also from CAWP)https://cawp.rutgers.edu/research-analysis/gender-and-politics-research-hub/research-Inventory/voter-attitudes-toward-women-politics
12. 🔬 In general two people to follow who are leading researchers in this space are:
👩🏫 1. Nancy Burns (bias alert! She was my professor for a research methods course in graduate school!)
https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people/faculty/nburns.html
🎓 2. Jennifer Lawless
https://www.jenlawless.com/
What good is the electoral college anyway? | S02E01 | Political Reality
Season 2 · Episode 1
Wednesday, August 19, 2026 • Duration 54:13
## Show Notes for Electoral College Ep.
### 🏛️ History & background
1. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Great_Compromise.htm
2. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/connecticut-compromise-great-compromise
3. https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/US-Constitution/Connecticut-Compromise
4. https://constitutioncenter.org/education/classroom-resource-library/classroom/4.4-info-brief-compromises-of-the-convention
5. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/generic/Connecticut_Compromise_Unveiling.htm
6. http://www.federalism.org/encyclopedia/no-topic/connecticut-compromise/
7. https://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/history/sherman.htm
8. https://connecticuthistory.org/the-connecticut-compromise/
### ✅ Key arguments for the electoral college:
🛡️ **Prevents “tyranny of the majority”**
10. https://www.thoughtco.com/electoral-college-pros-and-cons-4686409
11. https://www.kqed.org/w/youdecide/election2008/electoral_college/02.html
12. https://www.arlnow.com/2026/02/12/bill-to-support-popular-vote-in-presidential-elections-passes-virginia-senate/
13. https://www.sightline.org/2020/11/24/afraid-cities-would-rule-with-a-national-popular-vote-dont-be/
🏘️ **Protects the voice of small states**
14. https://www.thepolicycircle.org/understanding-the-electoral-college/
15. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-11-22/electoral-college-popular-vote-founders-james-madison-great-compromise
16. https://www.moabtimes.com/articles/the-importance-of-the-electoral-college/
17. https://theconversation.com/the-electoral-college-system-isnt-one-person-one-vote-150342
🇺🇸 **Preserves federalism**
18. https://riponsociety.org/article/why-the-electoral-college-should-be-preserved/
🏆 **Creates decisive mandates**
19. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics/american-civics-parent/american-civics/v/electoral-college
20. https://www.heritage.org/the-essential-electoral-college/the-benefits
🔎 **Localizes recounts**
21. https://legislature.maine.gov/testimony/resources/VLA20210511Ross132651777911040076.pdf
22. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11127-005-3210-4
23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_United_States_presidential_election
24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election
### ❌ Key arguments against the electoral college:
🗳️ **Conflict with popular vote**
25. https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/380960-understanding-the-us-electoral-college-who-what-why-when-and-how-we-elect-our-presidents
26. https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/virginia/virginia-bill-electoral-college-votes-national-popular-vote/291-fb82926e-ca20-4441-927b-97c491c4cdc1?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_13News_Now_-_WVEC
27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_in_which_the_winner_lost_the_popular_vote
🎯 **Hyper-focus on swing states**
28. https://www.polyas.com/election-glossary/electoral-college
29. https://foley.wsu.edu/research/ask-the-foley-institute/afi-electoral-college/
30. https://www.albert.io/blog/electoral-college-ap-us-government-crash-course/
⚖️ **Unequal vote weight**
31. https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-electoral-college.html
32. https://www.monmouth.edu/magazine/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-about-the-electoral-college/
33. https://www.kare11.com/article/news/nation-world/electoral-college-how-it-works-history/507-90d314dd-1e0d-4d85-b336-d2612dd1ef38
📊 **Winner-take-all distortion**
34. https://ash.harvard.edu/articles/the-electoral-college-and-our-broken-presidential-election-system/
35. https://www.lwvme.org/NPVmyths
36. https://www.uchscommander.com/opinions/2025/01/31/electoral-college-disrupts-democracy/
37. https://indianacitizen.org/kennedy-commentary-the-electoral-college/
📉 **Depresses local turnout**
38. https://virginiahistory.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/7.4-Activity-3-Persuasive Writing.pdf
39. https://medium.com/@dukepolis/your-vote-does-not-count-why-the-electoral-college-erodes-the-foundations-of-democracy-3bc7632d3283
### 🔧 Possible reforms
40. https://www.insidepolitics.org/brookingsreports/AbolishElectoralCollege.pdf
41. https://news.gallup.com/poll/2323/Americans-Historically-Favored-Changing-Way-Presidents-Elected.aspx
42. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact#cite_note-FOOTNOTENealeNolan20191-104
43. https://fairvote.org/archives/the_electoral_college-past_attempts_at_reform/
44. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-to-get-rid-of-the-electoral-college/
45. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/different-ways-reforming-electoral-college-past-and-present
46. https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/the-electoral-college
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