In pod we trust: The best US political podcasts to follow the campaign trail

The 2020 US presidential race is heating up – here are the shows that will keep you up to date
Democratic presidential hopefuls Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (L), former Vice President Joe Biden (C) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders participate in a Democratic primary debate as part of the 2020 presidential campaign season
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

One result of the start of the presidential primary season? There’s a host of new political podcasts capturing the thrills, spills and gaffes of the long and winding road to the White House.

Yesterday, the New York Times launched The Field, which will cover everything you need to know about the US election, and the BBC is dropping a sister to its popular Brexitcast series — Americast, with Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis and the BBC’s North America editor Jon Sopel.

It launches this week with an episode about last night’s Iowa caucus. From comic takes and special guests to daily micro-bulletins, here are the pods to subscribe to now to stay all over the 2020 US presidential election race.

Grab your headphones...

The Field

The New York Times

The Daily’s two million listeners will recognise that deep, comforting voice: Michael Barbaro, host of the New York Times’ flagship podcast, will also head its glossy new election series in the run up to November 3. He and his team will travel around the US engaging with voters. It launched last week with a look at the lessons from 2016, and its second 40-minute episode dropped yesterday from Iowa.

“Traveling around the state, we found anxious Iowans asking one question over and over,” an episode summary explains on The New York Times’s website. “Who can beat President Trump?”

So, You Wanna Be President?

MSNBC

“What I really wanted it to be like is longtime Washington veterans out for a drink one night, sharing campaign stories,” says MSNBC host Chris Matthews of his TV channel’s new election podcast.

The six-part series launched last week and the first three are out now: guests include Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter Peggy Noonan, political analyst Jon Allen and veteran journalist Judy Woodruff, who covered Jimmy Carter’s campaign.

Americast

BBC

Brexitcast’s shiny new American sibling. The creators of the hit BBC Euro-politics podcast — BBC Sounds’ most popular broadcast in the final quarter of last year — announced this new US politics series last week.

Brexitcast​ became an invaluable bulletin for demystifying the ins and outs of EU votes and negotiations, and now Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel will do the same for the White House race, catching up from across the Atlantic to discuss the latest gossip from the campaign trail every week.

Extra episodes are likely to be added in the days running up to the November 3 poll.

Weekly, BBC Sounds

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Every afternoon, reporters from American broadcaster National Public Radio explain the big news from the campaign trail and why it matters.

In this week’s special episode from Iowa, correspondent Scott Detrow has been driving around the state in a truck, attending candidate events and speaking to campaign reports ahead of the first national caucuses to pick the candidates.

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