Jonathan Butcher joined the RCP Podcast on Thursday to talk about his new book challenging the notion that the American people are irreconcilably politically divided: "The Polarization Myth: Americans’ Surprising Consensus on Race, School, and Sex" "We keep hearing from so-called experts in the mainstream media and academia that America is irreparably polarized," Butcher said. "It turns out that on topics we talk about around our dinner tables, and when it comes to education and our children, and when it comes to 'gender' issues, Americans actually agree on quite a bit." "That agreement is something policymakers can use to build consensus and good public policy," Butcher said. "Whether that drives how they vote might be a question for someone else." "What I found in my survey is that we don’t like racial preferences being used in college admissions, or frankly, anywhere else. We don’t like the idea that books with explicit sexual activity are on school bookshelves....

RCP co-founder Tom Bevan responded today on the RCP Podcast to The Atlantic's story dramatizing Trump's age: "The Enfeebling of The President" "They can’t help but write this stuff; they want so badly to make the public believe this," he said. "And without a hint of irony or self-awareness... Really?" "He shut his eyes for like two seconds in a cabinet meeting, and suddenly that's the equivalent of Biden?" "The press doesn’t seem to understand how much the average American utterly loathes them," he said. "They don’t moderate, they don't change course....

Elon Musk said this week that, given the chance, he wouldn't do DOGE again, and the political, bureaucratic, and cultural backlash convinced him that government can’t be run like a business. "The White House staff are happy the president and Elon Musk are on the same page and no longer enemies, but the takeaway from the entire DOGE experiment is that the world’s richest man realizes the government cannot be run like a business," RCP White House reporter Phil Wegmann said Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics podcast. "Do you think Russ Vought—the OMB director—doesn’t know where the waste is? Of course he does....

RCP senior elections analyst Sean Trende discussed the latest developments in the 2026 redistricting war following the recent Supreme Court decision allowing Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional map. NPR reports the scoreboard so far, shows six more safe seats for Democrats and nine for Republicans, with more states pending. "If both sides do what they’re trying to do, there will be maybe 10 swing seats total remaining, and Democrats only need three," Trende told the RCP podcast on Tuesday. "Virginia is going to try to redistrict. They’re going to put a constitutional amendment up probably in April....