Biden’s pollster on how to ‘not get our a---- kicked’ in midterms

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Politics, Government

4.0 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the coming weeks and months, the Playbook team will be out covering the key districts and states that will decide the outcome of the midterm elections. This week, co-author Ryan Lizza was in Las Vegas to interview John Anzalone, who is best known as President Joe Biden’s pollster, but who is also a top adviser to Gov. Steve Sisolak, who is up for reelection this year. In Nevada, two of the Democrats’ biggest political challenges collide: Democrats’ Hispanic voter problem is their working-class voter problem. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.John Anzalone is the founder of Impact Research.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.Carlos Prieto is a producer for POLITICO audio.Brook Hayes is senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Joe Biden, when I was 23 years old, just like today, it makes you feel like the most
0:09.8	important person in the room and he engages you not in a superficial way.
0:14.2	John Anzalone is best known as President Joe Biden's pollster.
0:18.1	He's the guy who designed Biden's winning campaign strategy.
0:21.4	And it's funny because they just wanted me to put a deck together of, you know, the
0:26.4	path to victory.
0:27.9	You know, you want to keep those things secret.
0:29.2	Again, everyone's, you know, you're kind of a vault, you know, and I would go and,
0:33.0	you know, I'd present this to the vice president Jill and Valerie and, and, and
0:37.8	Donlin or Shetty.
0:38.6	It was a very small group at his house.
0:40.6	No, actually in, in, in McLean.
0:42.4	Biden loved it so much, he wouldn't stop showing it to everyone.
0:46.3	So I would get these calls.
0:48.5	Doug Jones would call me, hey, just saw your deck.
0:50.8	One of the reasons they hit it off, they both come from similar working class backgrounds
0:54.8	that helped shape their worldview.
0:56.3	It's like, I had to scrape by for everything I got.
0:59.2	Anzalone grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan.
1:01.5	It was, it was kind of an economic struggle and, and survival game.
1:05.5	It aged 11, 11, 12, 13.
1:08.0	He worked long days shining shoes with his grandpa.
	...

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