LIVE at Castfest! How popular is Donald Trump?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why aren’t Democrats more popular, given the president’s low approval ratings in significant areas such as the economy? And what do Americans really think of Donald Trump? In this special episode of Americast, recorded live at Maida Vale studios in London for Castfest (celebrating some of the BBC’s best loved news podcasts) we look at recent polling for both Donald Trump, and the Democrats. Why has the president lost support, and how worried should the Republican party be, given the possibility of losing control of Congress in November’s midterm elections? Justin, Sarah, Anthony and Marianna also hear why former Trump loyalist Tucker Carlson who is now apologising for helping to get Donald Trump elected, and the wider impact this may have on Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) base. We also take a closer look at polling for the Democrats and why the party is not more popular. What should Democrats be doing ahead of the presidential election in 2028 to increase their support?
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent
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This episode was made by Alix Pickles and Purvee Pattni. The technical producer was Robbie Hayward, the video producers were Grace Braddock, Sophie Millward and Jem Westgate. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | We've got something a bit special for you today, AmeriCast, with a live audience from |
| 0:10.5 | Made of Ale Studios in London at an event celebrating some of the BBC's best-loved news podcasts |
| 0:15.9 | such as Newscast and The Global Story. We recorded the episode last weekend before the shooting at the press dinner in Washington, D.C., attended by Donald Trump. Hope you enjoy it. If you're ready, we're almost ready. We're just going to test our microphones, which means saying hello. That's me, Anthony. Test, test, test, pop, pop, pop. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. |
| 0:38.1 | That's very good. |
| 0:39.5 | She's good. |
| 0:39.9 | She's a pro. |
| 0:40.6 | Mariana. |
| 0:41.2 | What shall I say? |
| 0:42.0 | That's funny. |
| 0:42.6 | Undercover voters. |
| 0:43.5 | My undercover voters are five fictional characters. |
| 0:46.7 | Okay. |
| 0:48.4 | We're going to launch straight into this. |
| 0:50.1 | Donald Trump is not popular and not popular on a whole range of subjects and a worrying range of subjects |
| 0:57.3 | if you are, for instance, a Republican congressman or congresswoman running in the midterms in November. |
| 1:04.1 | In spite of that, the nation, it seems, is not turning to the Democrats with anything like the kind of enthusiasm that the Democrats |
| 1:12.7 | might hope they would. So here's the question. Could the Democrats do perfectly well in November, |
| 1:17.2 | but still mess up the next presidential election? That is the fundamental question underlying |
| 1:23.7 | what we're going to talk about now. So, welcome to AmeriCast. |
| 1:31.4 | You hear that sound? |
| 1:34.7 | Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. |
... |
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