Whether your politics align with ‘childless cat lady’ Taylor Swift and her pro-Kamala Harris stance, Elon Musk’s mega-MAGA-endorsing position (making him that campaign’s second most influential player after Trump himself) or the Chappell Roan option to be utterly disenchanted with both parties, it’s a tense time in world politics. As the countdown to polling day looms in America, commentators all over the podsphere are speculating hard on how the votes will fall come November. From irate amateurs cracking open beers and spewing forth bilious rants, to thoughtful stats analysts breaking down key demographics and geographics, we’ve listened to plenty of pundits (sometimes at 1.5x speed) to find informed, interesting perspectives for your US election updates.

Pod Save America (★★★★☆) describes itself as ‘a no-bullshit conversation about politics, for people who aren’t ready to give up or go insane’. It’s hosted by a revolving cast of four industry-savvy former Obama staffers, who just happen to all be privileged white men: Jon Lovett (he wrote speeches and jokes for Obama), Dan Pfeiffer (former White House communications director), Tommy Vietor (Obama’s former special assistant) and Jon Favreau (Obama’s director of speechwriting and definitely not the actor from Swingers and Friends). Their podcast goes out three times a week, dissecting the latest gaffes, ads, strategies and reactions. Recommended if you like people who don’t mince their words about Trump and occasionally swear incredulously about him. 

The excellent political reporter Astead W Herndon hosts The Run Up (★★★★☆), The New York Times’ podcast which skilfully digs into ‘the messy parts’ of the election race. When Trump recently flip-flopped on women’s reproductive rights and abortion, for example, Herndon interviewed frustrated conservative Christian evangelists calling for more consistency from Trump and feeling let down by his departure from traditional GOP values. Herndon also hung out with undecided, potentially very influential swing voters during the Harris-Trump live debate to see how they responded to the candidates as they unpacked their policies or, in some cases, left them disappointingly still in the suitcase. 

The Rational Republican (★★★☆☆) aims to deliver a non-partisan perspective, ‘promoting individual liberty and conservative principles while rejecting hatred and divisiveness’. Based in Oregon, with the strapline ‘State Over Party’, it examines local issues affecting those in the Pacific Northwest but also broadens its scope for chats on, for example, Israel and Palestine, with guests including Palestinian-Scottish-American, Alex McHaddad, former treasurer of the Oregon Republican Party. Giving insights into the needs and wants of Republicans, it’s a whole lot more nuanced than This Past Weekend W/ Theo Von (★★☆☆☆), where Trump guested on episode #526, entering the manosphere to talk guns, UFC wrestling and his brother’s alcohol addiction in a cynical, chatty attempt to sway the Bro Vote.

Elsewhere, Ben Burgis, a writer for Jacobin, hosts Give Them An Argument (★★★★☆), ‘dedicated to building a smarter, funnier and more strategic left’, with past guests including Glenn Greenwald and Slavoj Žižek. Or you can lend your ears to The Libertarian Republican (★★★☆☆), from an outlier who believes Kamala Harris is ‘a meat puppet for the military industrial complex’ and Big Pharma. 

All podcasts available via the usual platforms; the US election happens on Tuesday 5 November; main picture: Marek Studzinski.