The speaker

Alex Burns is the head of news at Politico. He has covered politics and power for more than a decade, including as national political correspondent for The New York Times during the 2020 presidential election.

A graduate of Harvard College, he edited the Harvard Political Review. In 2022, he co-authored the bestselling book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future. You can find a review of the book in this link. Burns writes Politico’s Tomorrow column, which explores the future of politics and policy debates that cross national lines.

Watch a video of the seminar 

Five takeaways from the talk and the discussion 

1/ Voters are not paying as much attention to the election and the news as before. “This is a tricky election because the stakes are enormous and also the country is not that interested in it,” said Burns. “It's this challenging moment where the stakes are unbelievably high, but public engagement is not similarly intense.” While Politico’s audience is highly interested in politics and policy due to its specialised mission, other outlets have not been so lucky. Burns points out, for example, that The Washington Post has lost 50 per cent of its readership since Trump left office.  Despite growth in voter apathy, Burns says that they will keep on with their mission to report on policy stories surrounding the election. 

2/ Voters are paying attention not only to the economy but also to other issues that have jumped to the forefront. James Carville, Bill Clinton's political advisor famously said that when it came to elections, “it’s the economy, stupid.” However, during this election, other issues are also at the top of the voters’ minds, while the economy remains the top priority. 

Burns pointed out that the border, reproductive rights, and attitudes towards gender and sexuality are issues that are shaping this election cycle, particularly for young people. “All that stuff has been thrust back into the middle of American politics in a way that it had sort of stepped through and faded into the background for a couple of years now, it really is front and centre again,” said Burns. “I think those issues and cost of living combined really are at the centre of the political conversation among younger voters and the war in Gaza. That's where it becomes very challenging for the American centre-left, I think, as in most countries, it relies on young people more than the right does,” he affirmed. 

3/ The media should also focus on issues that are not ‘top of mind’. “A challenge for the media is to address the concerns that are top of mind for voters of all ages, but also focusing on issues that are less of an issue like student loans and housing regulation,” said Burns. He pointed out that since these issues are not talked about by candidates during American presidential elections, they are rarely covered. However, the media should also focus on how these policies affect the electorate. 

Similarly, Burns advocated for telling policy stories that are particularly relevant to swing state markets rather than staying in the bubble of the big cities. “It's all well and good to sort of sit at Brookings and talk about de-risking or supply chain resilience, and it's another thing to go to the Phoenix suburbs and find out if voters are excited about this Taiwanese semiconductor company coming to town and the answer is usually yes, but many of them don't know that it's happening,” he said. 

4/ The debate matters, to a certain extent. As Americans prepare to watch the first presidential debate of this election cycle, Burns said that voters will not be so much looking at what the candidates have to say, but how they say it. “It's an open question whether anything will resonate more than just the visual impression of these two old men going at each other on stage and people making an impressionistic judgement of which of them is more mentally acute,” affirmed Burns. Especially for Biden, Burns said, who has been mocked by the political right on social media for his age, the debate will be a testament to his force as a candidate.

5/ Voters have a responsibility to seek out high-quality information. Burns believes that the electorate is not sufficiently informed. As we are living in a time where it is easier to have access to any kind of information, it is also easier to get low-quality information. “It's not popular to say it but I do think the burden of responsibility falls on voters themselves. If you're choosing not to seek out high-quality information at a time when it's more abundant and available than ever, there is a demand-side problem,” said Burns, “If people are satisfied to sort of scroll through TikTok, there's only so much we in the media can do.”

The bottom line 

As the US election approaches and voter engagement remains low, media outlets should continue to strive to cover topics that are top of mind for the electorate, in addition to other policy issues that are perhaps not as discussed. Moreover, audiences should seek out high-quality information to remain informed rather than rely on a diet of social media platforms.