The Purple Principle Podcast

By most measures, the US has over 40 million independent or unaffiliated voters (that’s a large audience!) representing more than a third of the electorate. Yet despite large and growing numbers, independents are often missing from the national conversation.

Independents have no cable channel or national newspaper. You rarely encounter an independent perspective on a major network or opinion page. And there’s a surprising lack of scholarship on them as well. Yet independents loom large come election time precisely because of their large numbers and low predictability.
At the Purple Principle, our audience is those independent-minded and unaffiliated Americans.

These questions lie behind every episode of The Purple Principle: How did these United States get so thoroughly partisan? How do we get less partisan? Can independent-minded Americans help bridge the divide?

Along our podcast journey, we interview experts from many different backgrounds: neuroscientists, comedians, mediators, legislators, musicians, non-partisan groups, political scientists and statisticians.

At the end of each episode, we ask this Exhausted American Majority tired of partisan political battles, to share their own purple tales as mediators between blue and red family members and friends. Hide full description

By most measures, the US has over 40 million independent or unaffiliated voters (that’s a large audience!) representing more than a third of the electorate. Yet despite large and growing numbers, independents are often missing from the national conversation. Independents have no cable channel or national newspaper. You rarely encounter an independent perspective on a major network or opinion page. And there’s a surprising lack of scholarship on them as well. Yet independents loom large come election time precisely because of their large numbers and low predictability. At the Purple Principle, our audience is those independent-minded and unaffiliated Americans. These questions lie behind every episode of The Purple Principle: How did these United States get so thoroughly partisan? How... Show full description