The Focus Group Podcast

Some strange, under-the-radar things are happening on the right. Marco Rubio is experiencing a strange rehabilitation with the Republican base, and some young men are excited about taxing OnlyFans. Meanwhile, JD Vance is still on the struggle bus with swing voters, especially women. Will Sommer, The Bulwark’s right-wing fever swamp correspondent, joins Sarah to break down the growing rift between the MAGA establishment and the America First wing—and what it means for 2028.
By Will Sommer:
MAGA Influencers Cheered Trump’s Venezuela War. Their Audience Said ‘WTF?!’
Meet the First Groyper Politician

There's a lot of bad news right now—so much that none of it is breaking through that much to the voters we talked to. From the ICE killing of Renee Good to the Epstein files to the criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol joins Sarah for a reflective conversation on the tough times we live in and how voters are processing them.
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Previous shows discussing the Epstein Files:
With Will Sommer (November 2025)
With Ashley Parker (September 2025)
With Will Sommer (July 2025)

The United States just captured Venezuela's dictator, and we needed to get some quick voter reactions. Is this REALLY what the newest members of Trump's coalition voted for? We're also sensing growing discontent from them with the state of the country, and with the Trump administration governing more for its friends than for them. Atlantic staff writer Jonathan Chait joins the show to break down voter sentiment nearly a year into Trump's term.
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Sarah started doing focus groups in 2018 and 2019 hoping to save the Republican Party from Trump—by finding a primary challenger who wouldn’t embarrass themselves. Instead, she discovered voters who were fine with Trump, and she picked up a years-long addiction that turned into this show. We listen to audio from Sarah’s earliest focus groups with reluctant Ohio Trump voters, and not-so-reluctant New Hampshire Trump voters. Then, Sarah and producer Conor Kilgore take some listener questions and look ahead to 2026 races.

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A year in review from The Focus Group Podcast: the revealing moments, toughest conversations, and warnings that hit a little harder with hindsight—from swing voters to Democrats to cracks inside MAGA.

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Original episodes:

Nothing is True, Everything is Possible (with Anne Applebaum): 

https://audioboom.com/posts/8711563-nothing-is-true-everything-is-possible-with-anne-applebaum

Do the Next Right Thing, Change the World (with Heather Cox Richardson):

https://audioboom.com/posts/8741588-do-the-next-right-thing-change-the-world-with-heather-cox-richardson

The GOP's Life After Trump (with Robert Draper):

https://audioboom.com/posts/8806639-the-gop-s-life-after-trump-with-robert-draper