We do this for you
Hey guys, it’s Sarah. Something people ask me a lot is why I spend so much time listening to regular voters—The People—in focus groups every week.
If you’re familiar with my and JVL’s long-running feud, you already know how this argument looks from the other side: “People are stupid, or evil, or maybe both. They’re incorrigible. And listening to them spout off is bad for your blood pressure.”
My response: Yes, sometimes it’s true that the people are the problem. But they’re also the solution. To paraphrase Bill Clinton (sorry): There’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right with America.
I’m telling you all of this because lately I’ve been listening to a lot of 2024 Trump voters, particularly young people in Gen Z, and one theme is coming through loud and clear: They are not happy with the state of the country, and blame Trump for it.
The research for my show, The Focus Group, reveals that young people swung to Trump in a big way in 2024 because they believed that he would fix the economy, and his authoritarian excesses were not a dealbreaker for them. Now, they’re swinging back hard.
You wouldn’t know this if you didn’t take the time to actively listen. I started listening to voters in focus groups back in 2018, specifically to break the hive-mind and institutional groupthink that helped deliver us Trump in the first place.
Doing that is messy and sometimes uncomfortable. But it’s a lot more interesting than the comforting, sanitized, partisan wishcasting on offer from so many other media companies. And here at The Bulwark, it’s what we do every day. We listen, we fight, we hash out new ideas, and often we challenge our readers.
That’s why they stick with us: We tell them what we really think.
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And we do it all for one reason: Because it’s imperative that we make sense of this authoritarian moment we’re in, speak the truth about it, and fight to save democracy before it’s too late. People join Bulwark+ because they’re here for that mission, and want to be part of that fight, because they recognize that it’s the central fight of our time.
If that sounds like you, here’s my only ask: Join Bulwark+ today. We won’t flatter your biases, or tell you what you want to hear, or shield you from what The People actually sound like. We’ll just tell you what we think, every day, and trust that you can handle the unvarnished truth.
That’s not for everybody. But if it’s for you, now’s the time to come ride with us.
—Sarah
Join Bulwark+ today for just $80 and get a year of sanity in your inbox—that’s 20% off our annual rate through election day 2026. Memberships help to sustain the work we here and ensure pro-democracy voices reach the widest possible audience. Upgrade today to gain unfettered access to everything we publish and join the Bulwark+ community in the comments. This special discount offer ends tonight.