“From the New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro, and this is ‘The Daily.’”
If you’ve ever listened to the NYT’s acclaimed news podcast, you might recognize the mantra of one of its co-hosts, Michael Barbaro. On Oct. 1, Scripps Presents hosted Barbaro and Nate Cohn — fellow NYT journalist and chief political analyst — to discuss their thoughts on the upcoming presidential election.
Hundreds of students, faculty and local community members attended the panel in Garrison Theater. With moments of both humor and gravity, the talk lasted for over an hour and ended with an audience Q&A.
Moderated by fellow journalist Alex Cohen, Barbaro and Cohn began by describing their careers as reporters. Cohn had no intention of being a journalist — he became one after spending time in D.C., reflecting on the state of American politics.
In 2016, the two began working together on a NYT podcast called “The Run-Up,“ which covered the election politics of that year’s presidential election. In 2017, Barbaro began working on “The Daily,” which has become the most widely-listened to news podcast around the world. The show airs five days a week and covers global news in digestible language.
While Barbaro has been presenting narratives and engaging in conversations with speakers around the world, Cohn has been the “numbers man,” working with American election data such as demographics and poll numbers.
“[Cohn] is the smartest person I’ve ever met when it comes to understanding demography, polls and the relationship between code and a computer to outcomes in elections,” Barbaro said.
In the talk, they reflected on the significant decrease in viewership of presidential debates by the electorate. Laughter filled the room as Cohn joked about missing the Trump versus Biden debate due to the birth of his first child and, on the same night, telling his wife that nothing would be more painful than turning on the TV.
Barbaro recalled Biden’s particularly worrying gaffes and lapses in memory during the debate.
“[It] was … an interesting confluence of kind of being a journalist and a human being,” Barbaro said. “[I] was asking myself, ‘Is this as bad as I think?’ and needing and wanting as I think all journalists do, affirmation or protestation of some kind from some other corner, you know?”
Cohn addressed concerns about voter participation.
“I think that there’s a real chance that, if Trump wins Michigan by a narrow margin … that defections from Arab communities could appear to represent Trump’s margin [of] victory,” Cohn said. “The Arab Muslim vote in Michigan is not especially large. It’s only 2 percent of the electorate. But if 2 percent of the electorate flips from red to blue, that can be pivotal in close rates.”
Cohn said that such a close race means that young people, who make up 15 percent of the electorate, will play a decisive role.
“[It] definitely can make a difference if young voters don’t back Harris in numbers that our campaign might presume, or alternatively, if [their turn out] is better than expected,” Cohn said.
Barbaro described plans for “The Daily” to investigate the political biases of certain demographics, such as young male and Black voters.
“We have changed the dimensions of political conflict in this country. Politics is about something different than it used to be, and voters are also acting differently than they used to.”
Discourse arose in response to a question about Harris’ political campaign and her personal narrative. Cohn said it is weak, and said that he felt disappointed by Harris’ backstory, calling it one of a “generic Democrat” with a middle-class origin story.
“I don’t think she has embedded in her narrative and explanation about what’s wrong that connects what she might do with what’s wrong with America today,” Cohn said.
Barbaro argued that it takes a substantial amount of time to develop a biography as a presidential candidate, an asset Harris lacked.
“The narrative that I think surrounded her when Joe Biden left the race had elements that felt kind of extraordinary, which were: ‘Oh my God, she’s saving … [the Democratic] party. She’s energetic, she’s prosecutorial,” Barbaro said.
However, they agreed that Harris’ narrative has plateaued. When asked about Trump’s personal biography, they stated that there was an unmistakable strength in his persona.
“There was something extremely coherent about Donald Trump’s diagnosis of what’s wrong with America, why he can fix it, and in particular, what’s unique about it is that no other candidate discusses trade, immigration, China,” Cohn said.
The conversation turned to the two assassination attempts against Trump. They navigated complications of their role as journalists in the climate that led to recent waves of political violence.
“When you put something into a system, when you pour something in, does it start to splash and like in all directions and maybe even come hurt you, and is that even a fair question?” Barbaro said.
Usually, mental illness enters conversations surrounding assassination attempts. Yet, he said, there is a new “anger” in today’s politics.
“We have changed the dimensions of political conflict in this country. Politics is about something different than it used to be, and voters are also acting differently than they used to,” Barbaro said. “And who knows how much it’s going to last once Trump goes away … It’s a question I’m still wrestling with. What is it about this era of American politics that feels so hot, so white hot, so constantly on edge?”
After the event, the audience lingered, talking excitedly about the ideas discussed in conjunction with the vice presidential debate that aired an hour before the talk. Many students were fascinated by the reporters’ ability to remain objective when answering polarizing questions.
“I have increased admiration for their journalistic integrity, especially since a lot of the questions were intended to have a polarized response or create a reaction,” attendee Ayden Duchovnay SC ’28 said. “Even as they made a few jokes about certain candidates, they showed such a deep respect and admiration for their work.”
Students also expressed gratitude to the opportunities provided by Scripps Presents.
“I think people are passionate, showing up here and seeking out a political education,” Eliot Tabor SC ’28 said. “It’s just very cool to have access to that, and also hear the voices I’ve been listening to in the car on my campus.”
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