Sarah Longwell on elections, politics, and AI

What’s driving some of the greatest political divisions and threats to democracy ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election?

This week, Reid and Aria attempt to unpack this with someone who specializes in listening to American voters and translating those insights, at scale: Republican political strategist and The Bulwark co-founder/publisher Sarah Longwell. Sarah, who also hosts The Focus Group Podcast, joins the show to talk about her experience listening to everyday voters through focus groups—and her perspective on how doing so can help people better understand one another, combat misinformation, and heal some of the deepest divides in America today. She shares her perspective on Donald Trump, the upcoming election, the state of politics in Silicon Valley, AI, the future of the Republican Party, and the value of compromising. Plus, Reid tests GPT-4o’s ability to separate fact from fiction.

Note: This conversation is not intended to proselytize or convert anyone. Rather, it is an attempt to learn from someone who has spent hundreds of hours talking to thousands of voters about their lives and politics.

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/

Topics:
0:00 - Hellos and intros
0:20 - Voter enthusiasm
2:27 - Undecided voters and persuasion dynamics
5:08 - How the polling mechanism informs American voters
8:40 - How focus groups work and finding the right participants
15:08 - Use of technology in focus groups and analysis
19:30 - Listening to voters and the importance of qualitative data
24:39 - Using AI and machine learning for better voter analysis
32:47 - Authenticity and its importance in persuasion
37:14 - Sarah’s personal journey in Republican politics
43:29 - The fight against misinformation
49:03 - The role of compromise in politics and its current decline
53:48 - GPT-4o’s ability in guarding against misinformation
59:07 - Rapid-fire questions


Possible is an award-winning podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Whether it's Inflection’s Pi, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or other AI tools, each episode will use AI to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.