'Seeking Common Ground' with Frank Luntz

Battleground with Amanda Litman and Faiz Shakir

The Recount

Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Frank Luntz is one of the most famous pollsters in politics. Called "the Nostradamus of pollsters," by Sir David Frost, Luntz is perhaps best known for two things: the focus groups he conducts on TV and his work shaping political language on behalf of Republican politicians. For example, he somewhat notoriously counseled them to say "climate change" instead of "global warming" and "electronic intercepts" instead of "eavesdropping."

In recent years, Luntz shifted from an avowedly partisan Republican into a more a heterodox thinker, and he has expressed remorse for some of his past work. Luntz butted heads Donald Trump before and after the 2016 election, but nonetheless, he also reportedly helped shape the administration's language on immigration.

Amanda and Faiz planned to speak with Frank about voters' appetites for progressive policies, the state of the Republican party, and COVID-hesitancy, and they did – to an extent. The conversation quickly took a combative turn. Listen in to find out why ...

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Fashikir.
0:02.0	I'm Amanda Littman.
0:04.0	And this is Battleground, a podcast from the ReCount and I Heart Radio.
0:08.0	Every Thursday we try to answer the questions about politics you didn't even know you should be asking.
0:15.0	This week our question is, what can Democrats learn from Frank Lentz, a top Republican pollster?
0:21.0	If you're not familiar with Frank Lentz, he's a legendary Republican pollster.
0:24.0	As Fash said, he's a pundit, he's a political consultant.
0:27.0	You've probably seen him in the news lately for running focus groups on TV.
0:30.0	A lot of his work is around the use of language and politics.
0:33.0	For example, he famously advised George W. Bush to say climate change instead of global warming.
0:38.0	He advocated for using the term death tax instead of its state tax, that kind of thing.
0:43.0	Yeah, and in recent years, Frank has evolved from a diet in the world Republican partisan into a Trump skeptic.
0:49.0	I think Donald Trump actually called him a Slav at one point.
0:52.0	However, he apparently still worked with the administration. For example, according to Politico, he advised then White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney,
1:00.0	that instead of saying the words, quote unquote, fun, the border wall, they should talk about border security.
1:06.0	We invited Frank on because we wanted to talk a little bit about COVID hesitancy and around Republican men being afraid to get the vaccine or unsure about getting the vaccine.
1:15.0	We wanted to talk about the state of the Republican party and to genuinely reflect on the changing attitudes of American voters.
1:22.0	You know, we wanted to hear from people who don't always agree with us and it was a hot mess of an interview.
1:27.0	So let's listen to it and we'll stick around afterwards to discuss it.
1:31.0	Frank Lenz, welcome to Battleground. We're so glad to have you.
1:34.0	It's a privilege to be here.
1:36.0	I've been looking forward to this conversation.
	...

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