Focus Group Reveals 'Shocking' Lack Of Election Knowledge In MSNBC Segment

Ron Dicker
Updated ·2 min read

Nine young voters in a focus group from Orange County, California, could not name their local member of Congress ― and one woman did not know what midterm elections are and could not identify any member of the House of Representatives. (Watch the videos below.)

Jon Favreau, the former Barack Obama speechwriter behind “The Wildnerness” podcast, showed the clip of Gen Z voters on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” Wednesday not to humiliate ― but to illuminate the motivations of uninformed voters.

Wagner called the video “shocking” and told Favreau he shattered the myth of the swing voter being a “white dude in a diner in the Midwest.”

To which Favreau responded: “The 81 million people that showed up to vote against Donald Trump in 2020 ― a very small percentage of them, as you mentioned ― actually follow the news closely. Most people who actually vote don’t have a pre-formed political opinion. They’re not super ideological, they’re not super partisan. They just show up on election day and pick between two candidates.”

Favreau also conducted focus groups among working-class Latinos in Las Vegas, Black voters in Atlanta and “disengaged Democrats” in Pittsburgh.

The issues that emerged of most importance were the cost of housing, gas and food, plus abortion and gun violence, Favreau said.

Asked what issues media and politicians talk about too much, the focus groups said the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and the elections themselves, Favreau noted. In a clip Favreau posted Wednesday on Twitter, one respondent wanted to give politics a “zero” in terms of priorities but settled on a “two.”

“The Wildnerness” seeks to amass a “pro-democracy” coalition to defeat Trumpism in 2022 and beyond, according to its website. Favreau is betting on voters who aren’t exactly in the know to get it done.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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