Nov 3, 2026 · 1h 24m
Hanson questions the forces shaping the 2026 midterms
Victor Davis Hanson: Why the 2026 Midterm Polls Could Be Completely Wrong
The conversation connects polling uncertainty and voter fatigue to wider disputes over political violence, foreign policy, immigration, and environmental policy.
- 1Polling and voter fatigue could complicate assumptions about the 2026 midterm landscape.
- 2Hanson and Fowler link anti-Semitic rhetoric, immigration debates, and political violence to deeper partisan contradictions.
- 3The discussion shifts from ideological environmental policies to agricultural reform, health monitoring, and the lasting power of kindness.
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Hanson recalls reconnecting with a former high-school athlete whose kindness remained meaningful decades later.
The brief
Victor Davis Hanson and Jack Fowler open with the 2026 midterms, questioning how polling, presidential popularity, and voter fatigue could reshape expectations.
The conversation widens to Israel, Europe, Brazil, immigration, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and political violence, with Hanson emphasizing contradictions in partisan language and democratic claims.
Hanson and Fowler argue that environmental policies such as paper-straw and plastic-bag restrictions often reflect ideology more than measurable outcomes, then praise agricultural and food-assistance reforms.
A health update on DNA-based blood testing leads into a more personal closing argument: small acts of kindness can remain formative and meaningful for decades.
The episode’s central tension is between large political narratives and the evidence, habits, and personal encounters that complicate them.
Books & mentions
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