How Trump’s maps could backfire

Summary

Podcast Summary: Today, Explained – “How Trump’s maps could backfire”

Date: June 18, 2026
Hosts: Sean Rameswaram, Miles Bryan
Guest Analyst: Jonathan Martin (Politico)
Main Theme:
This episode unpacks the fallout from aggressive Republican-led redistricting following the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act. It explores how the GOP’s strategy—aimed at cementing political advantage by diluting minority voting power—risks alienating even some of their own voters and may ultimately backfire by energizing opposition, fostering cynicism, and threatening their coalition’s future.

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I. Background: The Redistricting Wars

• Redistricting Surge:
  • In the wake of the Supreme Court’s April 2026 decision limiting the Voting Rights Act, GOP lawmakers in states like Florida have aggressively redrawn congressional districts—often to the detriment of minority communities.
  • Donald Trump has strongly supported these efforts, making political maps a headline partisan issue.
  • Quote:
    • “We’re in the middle of a redistricting war... Republicans versus Democrats. But it’s not always that simple.” — Miles Bryan (00:11)

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II. Florida on the Frontlines: Voter Voices and Frustration

A. The Case of Kissimmee, FL

• Setting:
  • Kissimmee—a rapidly growing, predominantly Latino city outside Orlando, Florida—exemplifies the shifts in voting blocs and representation.
• Community Story:
  • Puerto Rican and Hispanic populations have swelled post-Hurricane Maria, fueling political change and the election of the area’s first Puerto Rican congressman, Democrat Darren Soto.

B. Trump Voters Harmed by GOP Tactics

• Mike and Ricardo:
  • Both voted for Trump. Ricardo—a Puerto Rican Army veteran and local business owner—espoused conservative, pro-Trump beliefs rooted in economic policy.
  • Despite this, they feel betrayed by GOP gerrymandering that split their Hispanic community across several districts, eroding their representation.
  • Quote:
    • "They're trying to dilute the minority votes, especially the Hispanics." — Miles Bryan (00:31, describing Mike's view)
    • "That's one of the things I'm upset about...as a Republican, as a voter, I think they're breaching my trust." — Ricardo (06:30)

C. Political Fatigue and Cynicism

• Other Voices:
  • Keith, a Trump voter from Michigan, supported Democratic Rep. Soto due to his local engagement, and expressed resigned cynicism:
    • “Just kind of used to the government moving stuff around in their favor.” — Keith Dinatelli (08:47, 24:29)
  • Felix, a local bar owner, voiced disillusionment:
    • “You sound like you’ve kind of just accepted that you can’t control this stuff. No, nobody can control anything.” — Felix (09:03)

**D. Political Impact—Democratic Incumbent

• Rep. Darren Soto:**
  • Facing steep odds after being redistricted into a more Republican-leaning area.
  • Sees GOP map-drawing as overt corruption:
    • “What’s more corrupt than changing the rules of the game on voters?” — Rep. Darren Soto (10:18)

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III. The Bigger Picture: Why the GOP’s Strategy May Backfire

A. Analysis with Jonathan Martin (Politico) [16:32+]

• Backlash Risk:
  • The “squeeze”—targeted gerrymandering—may not be “worth the juice;” it could motivate black and minority voters to turn out in droves as their political power is visibly threatened.
  • Quote:
    • “You're only gonna fire up black voters more in a midterm election year… giving them an obvious turnout issue.” — Jonathan Martin (16:32)
• Salami-Slicing Dangers:
  • Redistricting to eliminate blue districts risks converting safe red seats into competitive ones if minority communities are redistributed.
  • Cites South Carolina as a place where this “danger” kept the GOP from pursuing maximal redistricting.

B. Eroding the Trump Coalition

• Trump built a uniquely multiracial coalition in 2024 (including many black and Latino voters), but undermining minority political power is causing rapid erosion of that support.
• Quote:
  • “He has effectively unraveled his own coalition.” — Jonathan Martin (21:21)
  • Latino and black voter approval for Trump has plummeted since the 2024 election cycle (see data, 21:55).

C. Voter Cynicism and Institutional Trust

• Widespread belief that politics and redistricting serve the powerful, not the people, is fueling fatalism and low trust in democracy.
• Quote:
  • “We're approaching our 250th birthday with a pretty sour electorate… People don't trust institutions. They don't think anything's on the level.” — Jonathan Martin (24:17)

D. Electoral Implications

• Increased anger may energize some (especially core Democratic groups), but apathy is rising among others—posing turnout risks for both major parties.
  • “If no one shows up... Does that help the Republicans or the Democrats?” — Sean Rameswaram (25:29)
  • The Democratic base is likely to vote “angry”; the challenge is reviving hope among the disengaged.

---

IV. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• "I think they're trying to dilute the minority votes, especially the Hispanics." — Mike (00:31)
• "Frustrated, angry, concerned, upset." — Ricardo (05:21, again at 20:07 for emphasis)
• "Just kind of used to the government moving stuff around in their favor." — Keith Dinatelli (08:47, 24:29)
• "What's more corrupt than changing the rules of the game on voters?" — Rep. Darren Soto (10:18)
• “You're only gonna fire up black voters more in a midterm election year…” — Jonathan Martin (16:32)
• “Do you want to have a chance to rebuild that Trump 2024 coalition in '28 or '32?... It’s going to be hard to keep black men, especially, in the fold if you’re seen as the party that's trying to dilute their political power.” — Jonathan Martin (22:10)
• "We're approaching our 250th birthday with a pretty sour electorate… They don't trust institutions." — Jonathan Martin (24:17)

---

V. Key Segments & Timestamps

• 00:11–04:45: Miles introduces the reporting trip to Kissimmee & local demographic transformation.
• 04:47–06:30: Ricardo and other local Latino Trump voters feel betrayed by GOP redistricting.
• 07:05–09:32: Trump voters express confusion, frustration, and resignation about their diminished electoral voice.
• 09:33–10:41: Rep. Soto’s response: corruption, community division, and motivation.
• 16:32–19:26: Jonathan Martin’s analysis—turnout risks for GOP, potential for districts to flip or become competitive.
• 21:21–22:10: Collapse of the Trump multiracial coalition, consequences for GOP’s long-term prospects.
• 24:03–26:06: Voter cynicism—can American democracy survive such distrust?
• 26:06–end: Predictions for turnout, consequences, and closing thoughts.

---

VI. Tone & Takeaways

• Language/Tone:

  • Conversational, often wry and skeptical, frequently punctuated with moments of dry humor even as the subject matter remains weighty.
  • Interviewees and guests alternate between anger, resignation, and a yearning for accountability.

• Final Takeaway:

  • The Republican redistricting gamble could reap short-term rewards, but risks both alienating key voters and driving up opposition turnout due to perceived corruption and disenfranchisement. Behind the maps, the deeper crisis is Americans’ crumbling trust in their democracy.

---

Listen to the full episode for firsthand voices and deeper analysis of how redistricting is reshaping the political map—for both parties and for the future of democracy.

Transcript

[Sean]

Sean.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

It's Today Explained. I'm Sean ramisvirm, and I'm joined by our senior reporter, Miles Bryan. What are you reporting on, Sean?

[Miles Bryan]

I'm here to talk to you about

[Sean Rameshvirn]

redistricting, a very popular trend in the United States right now.

[Miles Bryan]

Yes, we're in the middle of a redistricting war, as you might have heard. Republicans versus Democrats. I heard, but. But it's not always that simple. Okay, Take Mike Beltran. He's a Puerto Rican guy, lives near Orlando. Republican lawmakers blew up the old congressional district he was in to make it harder for the Democrat to win.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

I think it's a little messed up.

[Miles Bryan]

I think they're trying to dilute the minority votes, especially the Hispanics. Okay, Sean, but who do you think he supported for president?

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Uh, man. Florida. Florida man. Donald Trump.

[Miles Bryan]

You're supposed to say Kamala, but it was Trump.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

I did vote for Trump.

[Ricardo]

Yes, sir.

[Miles Bryan]

The same guy who kicked the redistricting wars off. I went to Florida to report on the Trump voters who got the short end of the stick in redistricting, and I'm gonna tell you about it on

[Sean Rameshvirn]

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[Keith Dinatelli]

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[Sean Rameshvirn]

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[Jonathan Martin]

The house will be in order.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

The clerk may call the roll today.

[Fetch Pet Insurance Announcer]

Yay. Explained.

[Miles Bryan]

Yay.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Okay, Myles, why did you go to Florida?

[Miles Bryan]

I should tell you where I went first. I went to Kissimmee, Florida.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Kiss me. We're colleagues, buddy. Kissimmee no way.

[Miles Bryan]

Kissimmee. Kissimmee. Kissimmee. Mike from the billboard helped me out with this one. Say it for me.

[Jonathan Martin]

Kissimmee.

[Miles Bryan]

Kissimmee. I have, like, a. I keep thinking about it. Kissimmee. Kissimmee.

[Keith Dinatelli]

Kissimmee.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Where is Kissimmee? Is that, like, which part of the boot?

[Miles Bryan]

Kissimmee is a city outside of Orlando. If you close your eyes and think Florida, it's basically what comes up. There's lots of palm trees, lots of parking lots. Crossing any road means dodging, like, six lanes of traffic. It's really close to Disney World, so you see a lot of Disney people around.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Did you go?

[Miles Bryan]

I did not, because I'm a reporter, and I was focused on this story. And what defines Kissimmee politically is that it's the hub for a large and growing Latino population.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Nice.

[Ricardo]

I actually. I grew up in. In Puerto Rico, but I'm on Puerto Rico. My family's from Calle Puerto Rico, and it's been an army family for. For decades.

[Miles Bryan]

That's Ricardo. He's 50. He's a retired infantry officer and still looks the part. The dude is built like a brick house.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Kissimmee.

[Jonathan Martin]

Yeah.

[Miles Bryan]

Ricardo actually moved to Orlando in 2001 after he left the service. But we were chatting in Kissimmee, which is right next door and in a county called Osceola. Back then, Osceola was about a quarter Hispanic, but since then, the area has grown exponentially, and Hispanic people make up most of that growth. Puerto Ricans, especially relief flights, have been

[Jonathan Martin]

heading to Puerto Rico daily since Hurricane Maria hit the island dropped. Florida officials say more than 160,000 now have arrived here in the state since the storm.

[Miles Bryan]

I read that a lot of people came from the island after Hurricane Maria. Have you noticed that in your own life?

[Ricardo]

Oh, of course. My mother is a survivor of the Hurricane Maria incident.

[Miles Bryan]

Now, Ricardo's always been pretty conservative, but all these new Puerto Rican voters helped elect Florida's first Puerto Rican congressperson, a Democrat named Darren Soto. He was elected in 2016, and he's been in office since then.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Okay, so a Democrat, even though Florida now a red state.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, and this is where the story gets tricky, because Osceola county, this area, they voted for Biden in 2020, but then flipped to Trump in 2024. Yeah, it was mentioned in a lot of stories about the great racial realignment, you know, Latino voters moving towards Trump for populous.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Did Brick House Ricardo vote for Trump, too?

[Miles Bryan]

Yes, Ricardo you know, he was skeptical of Trump initially in the first term, but by 2024, he was excited about Trump and making it 2019 again. What were his policies that really appealed to you?

[Ricardo]

Just being aggressive at the aggressiveness that he has in regards to business growth, the plan, you know, during his first term, everything was great to me as a business owner.

[Miles Bryan]

So Ricardo helps get Trump elected. He's a conservative guy. He's a Republican. He even did some organizing with the. But right now, he is extremely mad at the Florida Republicans.

[Ricardo]

Frustrated, angry, concerned, upset.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Because gerrymandering.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah. In April of this year, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. They're like racism. That's over now.

[Fetch Pet Insurance Announcer]

I remember writing that quote, the Constitution almost never permits a state to discriminate on the basis of race.

[Miles Bryan]

This ruling is a win, I think we can say for Republicans. And as soon as they did that, a bunch of Republican control states look to redraw their maps, including Florida. And Trump has been, you know, pushing for this, cheering it on, truth, social.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Anybody that votes against redistricting and the success of the Republican Party in D.C. will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA primary.

[Miles Bryan]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis changed the congressional map for this area to include more rural, more Republican, and more white voters. Basically spread Latino voters out over a bunch of districts, dilute them as a voting block. The new map actually drew Ricardo out of his old district, which is currently represented by Darren Soto. Really pissed him off.

[Ricardo]

That's one of the things I'm upset about because this realignment takes me out of the district. And as a Republican, as a voter, I think they're breaching my trust. No matter if you're Hispanic or not or Puerto Rican or not, you don't get the right to choose.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Okay, so Ricardo likes Trump, but then this gerrymandering thing happens in Florida, and he's not into it. He's having his Puerto Rican block diluted before his eyes. Are his neighbors feeling the same way?

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah. I met a lot of Hispanic voters who voted for Trump but were disturbed by the redistricting. People like Mike from the top of the show, who's Puerto Rican, or Yolanda, who's a immigrant from Mexico and owns a nail boutique town. Seria, Muy important. She told me it was really important for this area to have a Hispanic representative because the Hispanic population was so big. Another voter I want to tell you about, I met at an event for Congressman Soto in Kissimmee.

[Keith Dinatelli]

Thank you, Congressman. My name is Keith Dinatelli. I'm with.

[Miles Bryan]

He's a guy named Keith Dinatale.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Cool Keith.

[Keith Dinatelli]

That's post 33 out in St. Cloud. I've been working with toys for tots for Australocolate.

[Miles Bryan]

Keith is not Puerto Rican. He's a transplant from Michigan. He kind of looks like Ned Flanders. Hi to Lee Ho Neighborinos. Oh, yeah, he leans Republican. He told me he voted for Trump.

[Keith Dinatelli]

Trump doesn't really inspire me at all. It's more lesser evil. Yeah, I hate saying it that way.

[Miles Bryan]

A lot of people felt like that.

[Keith Dinatelli]

Yes.

[Miles Bryan]

But in 2024, the same year Keith voted for President Trump, he also voted for the Democrat congressman, Darren Soto.

[Keith Dinatelli]

Even though I may be Republican leaning, I still prefer the person. Darren Soto has been very solid through many years. He's helped veterans out. I've seen him at all the events. He's had my vote. The redistricting, you know, I neither agree with it nor. Am against it, because there's really no. They change things so bloody often. You know, I'm sorry. I'm just kind of used to the government moving stuff around in their favor, and then when the next administration comes in, they'll probably move it around again.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

My man sounds exhausted.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, that sigh, Sean, that's what really stayed with me, because I feel like it really conveys how frustrating and dispiriting this kind of thing is for normal people. Are you in his new district? Do you know?

[Keith Dinatelli]

Do not know.

[Miles Bryan]

Do not know yet.

[Keith Dinatelli]

I'll find out where I fall.

[Miles Bryan]

But I heard more of Keith's Tsai and talking to other people in Kissimmee. Here's Felix, who owns a bar downtown. Politics. That's the problem with politics. They change the system on their behalf so it could be better for them. You sound like you kind of just accepted that you can't control this stuff. No, nobody can control anything. You know, politics is a powerful thing. Like, if you already have a sense that the system doesn't care about you, about what you have to say, being shuffled into a district where you can make less of a difference is the ultimate confirmation of that. Right.

[Sean]

Mm.

[Miles Bryan]

And I also got to talk to Darren Soto, the Democrat congressman for the area who's facing a very difficult uphill battle to win re election in November. All right, can I get you slightly farther from the fan, just for noise, maybe right here?

[Sean Rameshvirn]

I'm sure he's not happy.

[Miles Bryan]

No, he's. He's upset. And he said the stuff that I expected, you know, like that this is ripping the Hispanic community apart.

[Sean]

But our largest population's Here, and it's been split across five districts. And that is both hurting the vote of central Florida and hurting the voice of the Hispanic community.

[Miles Bryan]

But he also said something that surprised me, that corruption is one of the most potent issues they have in trying to motivate people to come out to vote. That corruption makes voters angry and energized and engaged and sort of the opposite of checked out.

[Sean]

And this is part of corruption changing a map in the middle of an election. I could say Republicans, Independents, Democrats, corruption is the second biggest issue right now. And this is part of that, along with your ball rooms and your cryptocurrency, multibillion dollar pay to play funds and all these other things that people see. What's more corrupt than changing the rules of the game on voters?

[Miles Bryan]

I should say that the Florida courts have blessed the new maps, but you see his point.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Okay, so of course this Democrat who might lose his seat is mad, but he has Republicans or at least Trump voters in his district kind of on his side saying, we don't like what's been done to our maps. Is that going to equal, I don't know, some sort of fist in the air when, when it's election time?

[Miles Bryan]

You know, maybe, like the numbers are not on Soto's side. You know, the district is now very Republican leaning. But I did leave Kissimmee thinking that the politicians in state houses redrawing electoral maps to try to eke out a few new seats. They're making a big bet, you know, that people will largely roll over and take it, that they'll be more resigned than angry and activate it, you know, like more like Keith than Ricardo. And that might be right. It might be a smart bet. But because it's a bet, it could be wrong.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Well, why don't we go ask a political analyst, which it's going to be,

[Miles Bryan]

Miles, let's do it. But first, let's go out on Darren Soto's surf rock band that he plays in with Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost. It's called Astromax. And this track, this track is called Wishing on a Lucky Star.

[Ricardo]

SA.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

On the beach under the stars.

[Sean]

Music is.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

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[Jonathan Martin]

What's in the box.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

What's in the ballot today? Explain. Is back. Miles is gone, but thanks to him, you now know about some blowback from redistricting in Florida. But as you know, the redistricting is happening all over the place. It's an ongoing story. Just yesterday, Wednesday, Republicans in Georgia decided to not redraw their political maps. But many other states have. Texas, California, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee. They've all done some serious partisan gerrymandering. And Jonathan Martin from Politico thinks it could backfire.

[Jonathan Martin]

To give you the shorthand, I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze for the Republicans in the short term. You're only gonna fire up black voters more in a midterm election year in which black turnout is crucial for Democrats. So why would you be helping the opposition by, you know, encouraging them to vote more, giving them an obvious turnout issue, which is they're trying to basically, you know, dilute your voice. These maps are racist tools of white

[Sean Rameshvirn]

supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacists in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. If you live in a red state,

[Miles Bryan]

rally your local community to vote out

[Sean Rameshvirn]

every single Republican in every state legislature,

[Miles Bryan]

we have the power to fight back.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Now let's use it.

[Jonathan Martin]

Secondly, from just a raw political standpoint, when you start cutting the salami really thin, district wise, you risk imperiling some of your incumbents. Just take South Carolina, for example. South Carolina lawmakers are now considering changing

[Miles Bryan]

congressional district lines in the middle of an election cycle.

[Jonathan Martin]

Republicans backed off of the Trump demand there to redistrict their state's House seats in part because they thought that by, you know, canceling out Jim Clyburn's black district, black majority district, they could have created as many as three competitive seats in a pretty good structural year for Democrats. Is it worth ending Clyburn's career and carving up his seat? Because you're going to run the risk of moving those voters somewhere else. They got to go somewhere. And you could create unwittingly newly new competitive seats.

[Fetch Pet Insurance Announcer]

And that's right. You just heard it. We have some breaking news at the State House today as the Senate has killed a bill to redraw the state's congressional maps.

[Jonathan Martin]

So I think there's, you know, moral, ethical issues aside about the history of this country on race and politics. Just from a raw political standpoint, I think Republicans are being shortsighted on this in terms of ginning up black turnout and also, you know, potentially creating more competitive hell seats.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

So you're saying Instead of getting rid of one blue district in a red state, you might accidentally create three.

[Jonathan Martin]

Precisely. And I think that was part of the concern in South Carolina, which is why legislators there resisted Trump's demand. Because, again, when the political weather, if you will, is favorable to your party as it is for Democrats this year, some of these seats, which could be a stretch, you know, get a lot more competitive. If all of a sudden the African American share in the district has gone from like 17% to 32%. Right.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

How much is this animating voters so far? I mean, we're seeing primaries in some states. Do we have a sense of how much people are aware of this kind of wonky issue, gerrymandering, political maps, whatever it might?

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Martin]

You know, typically when you say reapportionment in a speech, the audience has fallen asleep before you can even finish saying the word.

[Ricardo]

Right.

[Jonathan Martin]

I mean, it's just like, pretty deep in the weeds. Process stuff. That's starting to change, I think. And I think the question is, you know, is it gotten to the point where it's so obscene and this arms race is so out of control that the average voter says this is just too much and this has gone too far.

[Ricardo]

Frustrated, angry, concerned, upset.

[Jonathan Martin]

Secondly, and more narrowly for this midterm election, have the Republicans given Democrats a turnout weapon with black voters between the Trump demanded reapportionment and the Supreme Court's voting rights opinion? You know, could that juice black turnout this year to levels it typically doesn't reach in midterms? Because that, to me, is the big question. Because then a lot of these races get a lot more interesting. Take Texas, for example. You know, it's a hard state for Democrats to win. They haven't won a Senate race there since 88. You know, Talarico's chances get a lot better to win that Senate race for Democrats if you've got historic black turnout in places like, you know, Houston and Dallas.

[Miles Bryan]

You take a look at these maps

[Sean Rameshvirn]

and the communities they divide, the voices

[Miles Bryan]

they dilute, it is primarily black and brown.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

We're talking about black voters, and we're talking about Donald Trump. A big story out of the 2024 election was that, you know, Trump got a lot more black voters than the typical Republican presidential candidate.

[Jonathan Martin]

Sure did.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Are they still with him in. In light of what he's doing in the south and what his party's doing in the south with their maps?

[Jonathan Martin]

No. I mean, the story of Trump in 2026 is that he is. He has effectively unraveled his own coalition or at least he didn't, he didn't sustain his own coalition. He, he created historic Republican coalition in 24 of younger voters and black, Hispanic and Asian working class voters that threatened to break the back of the Democratic coalition if he had sustained it. Obviously, he's lost a lot of those folks.

[Fetch Pet Insurance Announcer]

And now polls show the president's approval

[Miles Bryan]

rating among black voters has dropped dramatically,

[Fetch Pet Insurance Announcer]

with only 15% giving him high marks. 41% of Hispanic adults approved of Trump's overall performance as president in March 2025, shortly after he reentered the White House. That's since fallen to 25% in our latest poll.

[Jonathan Martin]

But you raised something that I should have mentioned a minute ago, which is, you know, why else not to do this if you're a Republican? It's also, you know, do you want to have a chance to rebuild that Trump 2024 coalition in 28 or 32 or beyond? If you do, it's going to be hard to keep black, black men, especially in the fold if you're seen as the party that's trying to dilute their political power. Right? And you can be damn sure that Democrats are gonna make precisely that case. You may like them on the economy more, or maybe you want more of your tax dollars, but you can't trust Republicans because they're trying to suppress your political power. That will be the message. And when the Voting Rights act is gutted, it's a hell of a lot easier for Democrats to drive that message. You know, I've had some conversations with Republican strategists. What they would be smart to do is they should get go find some of the best non white candidates and a lot of these seats that they're creating. If you want to push back against the idea that you're diluting black political power, well, hell, then go find the best black Republican you can find to win the primary. And that's the best pushback because then Republicans can say, democrats, your problem isn't that we're redrawing the map, it's that we're redrawing the map to help our party. And, you know, your issue is not racial, it's partisan. And I think if you had a bevy of strong black candidates running as Republicans, you could do that now. Easier said than done, obviously.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Miles, our reporter here, talked to some voters in Florida who were angry about redistricting. Some had just kind of given up. They felt, I guess, just fed up with this political process. When you talk to party officials, politicians about what they're hearing from voters, right now, what are they saying?

[Jonathan Martin]

There is a profound cynicism among, among the electorate about not just politics, but about most every institution in America.

[Miles Bryan]

They changed the system on their behalf, so it could be better for them.

[Jonathan Martin]

You know, we're approaching our 250th birthday with a pretty sour electorate. It's curdled. People don't trust institutions. They don't think anything's on the level.

[Keith Dinatelli]

Just kind of used to the government moving stuff around in their favor.

[Jonathan Martin]

They think that they're being screwed and that people with privilege and means are flourishing. And part of that's economic, guys, but it's not just economic. I think part of this is also there's just a sense that institutions are rigged. And I think part of the long tale of the Epstein stories because it proves some of the conspiracy theories. Yeah, that's right. That's how elites operate. That is real. And I think it's driven or at least reinforced by social media, the algorithms they're on. And that has led to an electorate that's pretty fed up. I saw Data that had 17%, 17% of American voters saying that they have faith in their government. I mean, that's really low. It's hard to sustain a democracy when the voters don't trust the government. They don't trust any institution.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

I mean, it feels like Republicans were scared about these midterms, and that's what put us in this position in the first place, to have this race to the bottom with redistricting. Now voters are angry and. Or apathetic, which might mean lower turnout than usual in the midterms, which already historically have a bit of an issue with turnout. Who does that favorite? Do we know if no one shows up? If people are fed up and cynical and just say, forget the midterms, I'm not interested. Does that help the Republicans or the Democrats?

[Jonathan Martin]

I think there's a great alienation from people who otherwise don't care about the system or don't have faith in the system. I think that for people with education, curiosity means, you know, the Democratic base in 2026, they're going to show up, they're going to vote angry. Right. The question is, you know, the people who are apathetic, who are not engaged, who are not following this stuff day in, day out, can you ever get them back? Right. You know, is there some way that can bring folks back that can. That can inspire people to vote happy, to vote optimistic? We haven't seen it yet.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

Jonathan Martin and his colleagues over at Politico are about to drop the second season of their video series on the Road. If you want to watch Jonathan travel the country and eat delicious food with politicians, YouTube is the place to find it. Miles Bryan went to Florida. I don't know what he ate. Jolie Myers supported his journey. David Tadashore and Gabriel Donato helped him unpack once he got back. Miranda Kennedy is our executive producer. Amina Al Saadi and Abhishai Artsy helped manage the show. Peter Balnon Rosen, Danielle Hewitt, Hadi Mwagdi, Kelly Wessinger, Dustin De Soto and Ariana Aspuru produce. Patrick Boyd mixes, Noel King co hosts and we use music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Today Explain is distributed by wnyc. The show is a part of the Box Media Podcast Network. Find out more about it@podcast voxmedia.com, listen to our show ad [e-mail] members the band once again is Astromax the song remains Wishing on a Lucky Star.

[Miles Bryan]

When I got a new car, I thought my insurance premium would increase and empty my bank account.

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[Sean Rameshvirn]

I've invested most of my winnings in

[Miles Bryan]

chicken tenders because they're bomb.

[Sean Rameshvirn]

But bro, I bought a house and it's sick bro. I'm thinking the floor is gonna be all trampoline, bro with a helipad on the roof. The contractor said it's structurally unsound. They're just being babies.

[Miles Bryan]

But switching to GEICO saved me hundreds. So my bank account is safe.

[Jonathan Martin]

It feels good to save some hard earned cash. It feels good to Geico.

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