Will Voter SUPPRESSION Hurt Democrats Chances In The 2026 Midterm Election? | Chuck Todd Politics

追加: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hey, thanks for checking out the Chuck Toddcast YouTube channel. Be sure to like and subscribe so you don't miss any of our updates.

[00:00:07]>> Ask Chuck.

[00:00:09]>> First question comes from Bob S.

[00:00:11]Providence, Rhode Island. Love podcast, a welcome voice of reason right now.

[00:00:14]You've mentioned that certain Republican strategies could drive higher turnout among Democrats and independents, but how much do you worry that the voter suppression efforts could blunt the impact? and with concerns about legal challenges or attempts to overturn results. Is it reasonable to question whether electoral outcomes will reflect that turnout or should we still have confidence in the system overall? Bob, I understand the concern and you know this is where I fear that so many people are being constantly fed fears, right? Fears of what could happen versus what's likely to happen. And I know there's a lot of, you know, places out there that are that just try to grow their traffic and influence by preying on fears like this, right? It used to be a hallmark of the right. And there's some I'll just call it resistance porn uh of a few um well, you know, the podcast I'm referring to. um whether they attempt to uh save America or they think that they're going to be the bull work against uh um authoritarianism, I think their their goals are noble. I think their tactics and the way they spin people up um you know, it's it's it's a form of of sort of of uh fear, organizing via fear. Um, and it could be effective, but you better be honest about it because if you sort of oversell it, um, it actually you you you lose more influence over time.

[00:01:45]Our system is still really really convoluted and that's the the safety and security of this. That's one.

[00:01:53]Um, I am, you know, I I there is certainly plenty of efforts to try to make early voting harder, to try to make identifying if you're a voter harder.

[00:02:08]There's certainly hurdles that are being talked about, but many of them have not been erected. They've been threatened as uh to be erected, but they haven't been erected, number one.

[00:02:19]And I do think those things drive turnout in in a you know in a reverse way. So um I look I'm not I I will say this.

[00:02:31]I do think that we we do constantly underestimate the ability of some on the right to try to try stuff that are undemocratic.

[00:02:43]There are certainly some things that we've seen um that you're like, okay, you know, I understand why, you know, January 6 alone, you know, and it's funny about January 6, I think it's radicalized a lot of people left and right. Um you know, before January 6, I think Democrats did believe that they had to figure out how to how to talk to the middle better, how to, you know, that there was this this sort of there was a 60% majority to build here. How did they do it? After January 6, it became, well, he has to be stopped and he's gonna if he's going to stop at nothing to great to get power, then then the resistance has to stop at nothing to to resist him. And again, if you believe our system is so weak that Trump can do this, then I'm then I I could I could be I could understand I could rationalize the behavior of the left. But I believe our system is still stronger than you think it is. And you know, 2020 proved it. 2022 proved it to me. And in some ways even 2024 because 2024 the voters behave behaved rather normally.

[00:03:54]I know there are people who were just couldn't believe that it's possible that there were voters out there who voted for Biden who thought, "Boy, this didn't go well. I'm going to try I'm going to go back to Trump." Um, but when you looked at people's lived experiences, it made perfect sense for those that have been who sort of view their vote a bit more transactionally.

[00:04:15]They're not viewing this through an ideological lens, you know, and that's that's always been an issue with I think both parties struggle to realize that these these swing voters, they care about a couple of specific issues. Um, but they're very mainstream issues and they, you know, which which party is going to worry about the average mainstream person versus which party is more worried about protecting some minority faction of their own party.

[00:04:44]And I do certainly think January 6 radicalized everybody under again understandably. I'm not going to sit here and say it was not without wasn't warranted. But I think it has made folks assume the worst is more possible than I think it actually is. So I'm pretty confident in in this. I I I really am.

[00:05:05]There isn't. It you know look they can draw different maps. Now, the question is, does the does the Democrats respond with a with a with with sort of a reality- based campaign? Like, again, if I were the Democratic party, I'd be going hard in these southern states. I wouldn't retreat. I'd be going hard to go win some statewide elections because they're more winnable than you think.

[00:05:32]But you got to do some investment in that. But in some ways, the party's been so invested in just building up its own ideological floodwall that it hasn't thought about how it expands itself. How does it become a party of addition again?

[00:05:48]Um, so I'm I am now everything that you're concerned about if if everything is within if if the results are super close, right? and you know you're you're talking Democrats by a couple seats or then yeah there are a lot of chainery that can happen if the result is super close. The result isn't that close. This chainery is just not isn't going to go anywhere.

[00:06:16]So I'm probably 85% trying to tell you you have nothing to worry about.

[00:06:25]But you shouldn't ignore that 15% in my own voice that is saying your concerns aren't aren't you. I don't think I don't think you're off your rocker with your concerns. I don't think it's as acute in the moment as it's been presented by some. This episode of the Chuck podcast is brought to you by Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first bake from frozen subscription box for sourdough breads, arteasonal pastries, and fresh pastas.

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