The podcast brings listeners to Pennsylvania, specifically Philadelphia, where the Ameracast team discusses the perspectives of first-time voters in the upcoming U.S. elections. The hosts introduce themselves from a temporary setup in a generous friend's house, where they question local young voters on their political views and discuss their participating affiliations in this significant event.

The guests are mainly young, first-time voters from Pennsylvania, sharing that their political stance is influenced by their families and environments. The conversation shifts to major political figures and future electoral possibilities, highlighting preferences and objections to candidates like Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and examining Joe Biden's influence on Kamala Harris. They voice their concerns about potential Republican candidates, discussing how Biden's term and Harris's campaign strategy affect their personal voting decisions.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. polarized [ˈpoʊləˌraɪzd] - (adjective) - Divided into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs. - Synonyms: (divided, separated, split)

But I think that America's politics are so polarized right now that making the choice one way or another is fairly easy.

2. contentious [kənˈtɛnʃəs] - (adjective) - Causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial. - Synonyms: (controversial, disputable, debatable)

So people definitely are contentious with their political sign usage.

3. reputation [ˌrɛpjuˈteɪʃən] - (noun) - The beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. - Synonyms: (status, standing, repute)

...and it's better to call it now. I think that he definitely has a lingering impact over Kamala Harris's reputation...

4. galvanize [ˈɡælvəˌnaɪz] - (verb) - To shock or excite someone, typically into taking action. - Synonyms: (stimulate, motivate, inspire)

What is there that can galvanize her campaign, do you think, Leah?

5. fickle [ˈfɪkəl] - (adjective) - Changing frequently, especially in regards to one's loyalties, interests, or affection. - Synonyms: (capricious, flighty, changeable)

Yeah, I think that's been one of the main points of attack from Trump's campaign, is that she's very fickle, that she keeps changing her views.

6. reproductive rights [ˌriːprəˈdʌktɪv raɪts] - (noun) - Legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. - Synonyms: (birth rights, family planning rights, childbirth rights)

And I think it's a fair one because I think that's an issue that's on a lot of people's minds as sort of this imminent threat towards reproductive rights going beyond just abortion access, but also also just the question of reproductive healthcare in general in the upcoming years

7. populism [ˈpɑːpjʊˌlɪzəm] - (noun) - A political approach seeking to appeal to ordinary people who feel their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups. - Synonyms: (grassroots politics, popularism, anti-elitism)

And that's changed recently, particularly with, with Trump's brand of populism, or what he likes to convey as populism, kind of getting these, these white working class voters to his side.

8. electoral votes [ɪˈlɛktərəl voʊts] - (noun) - Votes cast by members of the Electoral College, which formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. - Synonyms: (college votes, electoral college votes, electors' votes)

We're a very close state and we have so many electoral votes, and in a winner take all system, it's really important to be able to push that to one side or the other.

9. swing state [swɪŋ steɪt] - (noun) - A US state where the two major political parties have similar levels of support among voters, viewed as important in determining the final result of a presidential election. - Synonyms: (battleground state, purple state, pivotal state)

If you hold a rally in a swing state like Pennsylvania or wherever it is, you're appealing to the people that turn up at that rally who probably are going to vote because they're turning up at a rally.

10. media outreach [miːdiə ˈaʊtriːtʃ] - (noun) - Efforts made by an organization to communicate or disseminate information to the public through media channels. - Synonyms: (media engagement, publicity campaign, public relations)

I think now it's down to a point where she just needs to be consistent, to do a lot of media outreach to encourage people to vote...

What role will first-time voters play in the US election? - BBC Americast

We're in Pennsylvania. I'm in Pennsylvania, which is exciting because I've been doing these podcasts from South London for too long now, not only in Pennsylvania, but in Philadelphia, the place where America essentially was invented in 1776, Declaration of Independence and all of that. We're not actually in Independence hall. We're in a rather lovely house which belongs to someone about whom we will talk in a second or two. But this is going to be the first of our podcast that has dealt particularly with first time voters.

Welcome to Ameracast Ameracast. Ameracast. From BBC News, it's Justin in the temporary worldwide headquarters of Ameracast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And it is Mariana, also in the temporary worldwide headquarters in Philadelphia. And we're very excited to be in this absolutely lovely townhouse. And we are here because one of the editors on our program, Sam, has a very good friend called John and another friend called Anne, who live here with their lovely baby Daisy. And they have let us record the podcast here, which is very nice.

Where's Daisy? I think Daisy's sleeping. Luckily far enough away from us, we hope. It is really nice of them. And it's really nice also of our first time voters to have joined us. Can I get you to introduce yourselves first of all? And then we'll have just a general conversation which will reveal all go first, what's your name and tell us a little bit about where you're from. Yeah, I'm Leah. I'm from Pennsylvania, but not from the city of Philadelphia, although it is my fourth year living here because I am a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Thank you so much.

I'm Zach. I'm a senior in high school. I live just outside of the city limits here. And this is my first election ever to vote in. I'm Emily. I just turned 18, so this is my first ever election. I'm from the same district as Zach and I'm also a high school senior. And I love how we made you all introduce yourselves like you're on a quiz show. But don't worry, it's not going to be like a quiz show. How are you feeling about voting for the first time? Has it been easy to make up your mind, Emily?

Yeah, I mean, at least for me. I come from a very liberal family, so I'm not experiencing any tension with the people around me involving the election. But I think that America's politics are so polarized right now that making the choice one way or another is fairly easy. And for you, that's Kamala Harrison. Tim Waltz. Yeah, for Me, it was quite an easy decision. Just like Emily, I come from a liberal family, so there's not any kind of tension or backlash I would face for voting blue in this election. And for me, I know that I would never in a million years vote for Donald Trump. And so that was enough to make up my mind.

What did you say? Sorry, Would there be any Republican you might have voted for? Yeah, I wouldn't rule it out completely. I think that there definitely could be more moderate Republicans that I could agree with on some things, particularly if they were. Might. They might be fiscally Republican. But on social issues, which I tend to value more the liberal side of that, if they were a little bit more progressive in that regard, then I would consider voting for them. But generally, when given an option between a more liberal candidate and a more right wing candidate, I will lean liberal unless there's a significant issue with that candidate that I have.

When you mentioned before that it feels like you would you say that your vote is more anti Donald Trump than it is pro Kamala Harris? For me, yes. I mean, I support Kamala Harris. She's not my ideal candidate, but she is definitely the better of the two. But the biggest thing is more so that I fear Trump could be dangerous to our country if he gets a second term. Leah, you're from the country, which puts you in a different place because then your roots will be in places that are now voting for Trump. Do you kind of feel that in your background and in the people you know, it's interesting, I think especially in the last this election and also the last presidential election, I realized that the area that I'm from is actually quite mixed.

And you see that with the street signs, it's almost every other house is Trump Harris. Trump Harris. Do people ever argue? Sorry? Do people ever argue? Oh, yeah. There's actually two people on a street corner of my street and they have a sign war and they go out and they put up these hand painted signs and I think things got a little bit heated and now one of their wives won't let them keep doing the sign more anymore. But it is a whole thing, especially last election. So people definitely are contentious with their political sign usage.

Can we turn to the news of, if not the day, the news of this week, which is Joe Biden deciding to intervene in the election to call Donald Trump's people garbage or his support is garbage, which brings up really the whole business of Joe Biden, doesn't it? And his relationship with Kamala Harris and how she has dealt with him during the whole thing, he's not doing great things already. Do you like. Yeah. How do you feel about Joe Biden? Yeah, I don't feel great about Joe Biden. I think that he had a decent political career. I think I did not support him as a presidential candidate for this particular election. I think he's just at the end of his political career and it's better to call it now.

I think that he definitely has a lingering impact over Kamala Harris reputation, and I think that's definitely a strategy that I've seen the Trump campaign using a lot. How do you guys feel about Joe Biden? For me, I was quite happy when he originally stepped down. I felt that he. Yeah, his career is just coming to an end. I think he's kind of losing the ability to articulate his ideas. I don't think that I necessarily, like, disagree with him as a person or somebody with political opinions or a political agenda, but I think he really fails to get people excited to vote for him.

And I actually was remarking to a friend recently about how he's really stayed out of the public sphere until that comment surfaced about calling Trump supporters garbage, which he claims he was saying. No, it's about the. What the comedian said about Puerto Rico being the island of garbage. Whatever the case, it's clear that what he says is having a negative impact on Kamala Harris's reputation. And so if he could continue to stay out of it until after the election, I would appreciate that. Did any of you see that video?

It popped up on so the undercover voters I was telling you about, these characters I run with fictional, well, fictional identities and social media profiles on a couple of their feeds, including the one who's the most progressive. I saw that video of Bernie, Bernie Sanders, where he was effectively endorsing Kamala Harris, particularly on the issue of war in the Middle east, and saying, I know that lots of people are feeling very angry and upset about the war that's unfolding in the Middle east, in Gaza in particular, and also, you know, the situation in general.

But voting for a third party candidate is not the solution here because Donald Trump will be. Will take a position that is further away from what you want than Kamala Harris. I don't know if you guys know many friends or other people who of feeling like they can't vote for the Democrats over issues like that, like the war in the Middle east or not. I think most people, at least around me, are of the opinion that voting for a third party is a vote for Trump, that whether we like it or not, we can't vote for someone other than Democrat or Republican. Those are the only real options right now. And voting third party because of, like, anger towards the Democrats for how they're handling conflicts in the Middle east is just not productive.

Yeah, I wonder if it is going to, because who's on the ballot here is Jill Stein from the Green Party on the ballot in Pennsylvania? So it is a real option then for people who want to express a view about Gaza and the Middle east and want to vote what they would regard as sort of progressive left, that she is an option. But do any of you know people who kind of who support her, who you think might vote for? I've seen a lot of kind of online discussions in particularly, like, further left liberal spaces of people saying there's no way they can vote for Kamala Harris.

And whether it's going to be voting Green Party or something else, or having a write in just as a protest vote, that's what they feel like they must do. And that's always frustrated me because I just see that as a vote for Trump. And I feel like if you don't vote for a practical candidate, then you don't really get to have any complaints afterwards if your candidate, if you're upset with the results. Because, yeah, if you're voting third party, I mean, it can be a powerful protest.

But I think that particularly in a swing state like Pennsylvania, in past elections, third party candidates have won enough votes that if they had gone to either party, it could have swung the election in one way or another. We're a very close state and we have so many electoral votes, and in a winner take all system, it's really important to be able to push that to one side or the other. With so few days left before the election, at this point, to continue to try to change a candidate's opinions seems ineffective to me.

And I agree with what you guys were saying about how at this point you're going to have one of those two candidates. So when it comes down to it, even if you couldn't find a candidate who was willing to conform to the view that you wanted them to conform to, you're going to have one of them. So I don't see the point in abstaining from voting at this point. Do you have a kind of sense that, that this race would have been very different with a different candidate? And I know whenever we ask sort of politicians, these, they say, well, we've got the candidate that we've got and that's it.

We don't answer hypothetical. But it's really interesting, actually, to think how all of it might have been different if Biden had gone at the end of last year or even the beginning of this year and there'd been some kind of a primary process that had taken part. How would it have changed it, you think? I could honestly see Kamala Harris having been selected through a primary process, Just thinking about kind of the names that are out there. People might not know a governor, a senator, especially if it's not their own state.

But since she's been the vice president for four years, I think that she's the most well known and usually especially recently the most. The candidates with the biggest history of politics on a national stage and being in the news and being well known tend to win those primaries. So I don't think it was a particularly. I think a primary could have likely yielded the same result. But speaking about whether or not a different candidate with just different views could have kind of changed the trajectory of this election, it's something I think about a lot. Whether or not Harris is kind of articulating her viewpoint on Israel and Gaza and the war in a way as to not alienate people, or if it's actually her own personal viewpoint.

And I think it's kind of difficult because you have Democrats kind of split on this, and it's this game that she has to play on. Is it more important to get the people who are very, very anti Israel or the people who, if you don't say, I support Israel and their right to defend themselves. But it's not just Israel, is it? It's everything. And that's the thing about Kamala Harris. Think of fracking in this state, which is such a huge issue. People incredibly in favor of it because their livelihoods depend on it.

Equally, a lot of people on the environmental side of politics hugely against it. She was on their side. Now, apparently she's not anymore. You're raising your eyes. I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, that everything from her is defensive? And that has been a problem, hasn't it, during the campaign? Yeah, I think that's been one of the main points of attack from Trump's campaign, is that she's very fickle, that she keeps changing her views. And it's not unfair, is it? Actually, no, it's absolutely true. I don't know that I've ever thought that the view, the promises that people make on their campaigns actually reflect their opinions.

So it doesn't surprise me that she's molded her views to fit what she think. What she thinks is going to get her the most votes. I can't really blame her, to be honest. Yeah, I think she's largely trying to target working class white Americans, which historically have been kind of always voting Democrat. And that's changed recently, particularly with, with Trump's brand of populism, or what he likes to convey as populism, kind of getting these, these white working class voters to his side. And so having a more moderate stance on something like fracking that benefits the industrial workers and I guess also executives in the industry as well, is maybe more beneficial to her than honing in on really progressive policies.

And I'm sure they've done the math and they've looked at who it's really important to target. It's not just random, these positions that she's taking, but I do agree that changing them and not having a consistent track record might make her seem less of. Less stable and less reliable. Yeah. Or possibly less genuine, I guess, is if people feel like, hang on, what does this person. That's the point. It's the genuineness. Because with Trump, you've got someone who, for all his faults and he has some, and they are well recognized by people, certainly by his opponents, but he's not your average politician, is he? He really isn't. And there is something j.

And that's why he does so. That's why, I mean, in the world that I investigate on social media, he does so well because he seems really authentic and people are like, well, this is what this guy thinks and he's not afraid to say what he actually thinks. And even if he changes his mind, I think people are more likely to believe. Yeah. Maybe what he, what he says about it. So, Leah, the problem is what you're ending up voting for is someone who is very much the archetypal politician.

I was thinking that when she did a speech the other day at the Ellipse, and I know why she did it, and it's to look back at Trump being there on January 6th and all the rest of it, but to give a kind of set piece speech on the week before an election in Washington, D.C. when, you know, actually I would counter that because I said this when we're going to have a little argument when we were all chatting. Yes. You amuse yourselves. Well, I think it's really interesting if you think about both Trump's Madison Square Gardens rally and then also Kamala Harris's and being in D.C. and everything else.

I think what it tells you is that if we're honest with ourselves. If you hold a rally in a swing state like Pennsylvania or wherever it is, you're appealing to the people that turn up at that rally who probably are going to vote because they're turning up at a rally. What you want is your clip of your whatever you said to pop up on the top of someone's social media feed. And you have to do it in a really sort of big way, which is why Madison Square Gardens is so much kind of drama. We're all here. It's a big deal. We're going to get lots of attention.

Same with Kamala Harris. It's like I'm here where the Capitol riots happened. I can contrast. This is the message I want to send. And like those clips, I don't know if you guys have been seeing them kind of from those. Like, they pop up everywhere more so than, I guess, the kind of. I've found this on the undercover voters. It tends to be the clips from those big events rather than the ones from kind of random other rallies that are cutting through.

I don't know how much of the stuff you've seen from Madison Square Gardens or from Kamala Harris speech online. Have you seen any on your social media feeds? Like her bit at the end. Like, I've seen quite a lot of the clip of her at the very end of the speech where she's saying, January 6th happened here. You know, Donald Trump ignored the will of the people. That kinds of stuff. Has that stuff been popping up for you guys or not so much? To some degree. I haven't been necessarily tracking what rallies things come from, but it does seem that these kind of big events are the ones that get circulated.

And I agree that I'm seeing a lot more of these just like small clips without context being used either for or against, kind of by her campaign to promote what she's saying, or by Trump's campaign to say, look, she's said this and it's bad, or the reverse. Even on the genuine point. The one thing that I notice when I spot clips online that Kamala Harris has retained her position on, and the clips that seem to perform really well are the ones about abortion rights.

And I wonder whether that's the issue that you guys feel. I don't know how you feel about, how you feel about that and whether you think that's a reason that quite a lot of people will go out and vote for her. I know that in the swing states in the upper Midwest, so like Michigan and Wisconsin, that was a really important issue that turned a lot of middle class white women to vote blue because they especially, I think it was like the midterm election, so 2022, after Roe v. Wade had been overturned.

And that that was an issue that prompted a lot of people to kind of say, well, I'm taking this Democrat side now because that's a very important issue. And so I think that that's a lot of, to a lot of people that could be a very, very major issue for sure. Leah, what do you think? I think, and I don't know if this is also the Instagram Reels algorithm targeting me, but it definitely seems to be a point that she is driving on her especially like social media platforms. And I think it's a fair one because I think that's an issue that's on a lot of people's minds as sort of this imminent threat towards reproductive rights going beyond just abortion access, but also also just the question of reproductive healthcare in general in the upcoming years.

And also an issue that's on a lot of young people's minds. And so I think it's a very effective strategy for a lot of people in our generation. And also a strategy that is good in the sense that it's a fairly clear cut issue between her and Trump. There's not much gray middle ground. And I think she's really claimed that as her own. And I think that's especially effective as a female candidate. Emily, what do you think about it? You want to become a doctor? So I imagine you're quite interested in stuff like this.

I do, yeah. I mean, abortion and reproductive rights and the right to private medical like intervention is really important to me. And I think something that someone brought up to me recently is that if Trump were to win and he were to allow states to decide whether or not abortion is legal theoretically in states where abortion was banned with or without exceptions, doctors who fear like getting arrested or charged with some kind of a crime for performing abortions would leave the state or leave the rural areas and you would end up with medical deserts. So people have to travel further to get medical help, which is obviously a problem. Let's bring it all back to the campaign and to this week or these last few days, actually.

What do you want to see from your chosen candidate that you haven't seen so far? What would you like her to do? I mean, should she come out and say, Joe Biden's useless, I'm sorry I ever worked for him, and is it too late for that? Should she kind of take a policy position that she hasn't done so far. What. What is there that can galvanize her campaign, do you think, Leah? I think that what she needs now is consistency. I think it would be dangerous for her to change anything at this point. As we were discussing earlier, she has had a reputation of flipping sides on some issues, and I think now it's down to a point where she just needs to be consistent, to do a lot of media outreach to encourage people to vote, but to vote for the same reasons that she's been trying this whole campaign time and not to try and switch things up.

Should we ditch the fascism stuff, the talk of the dangers of Trump, and actually be more positive about her own message? Is that, or is that still an important part, do you think, of the message? I had a conversation with somebody who's a Trump voter the other day, and he was basically saying she can't even articulate what's good about herself. All she says is what's bad about Trump. And, you know, to me, that's powerful messaging, because that's the main reason why I'm voting for her. But to see that from the other side and think, well, maybe she could poll more people if she actually could convince them that she's a good candidate.

And I think the biggest thing that she could do in this, in this next week would be to really hone in on her economic plan, because that's something that Trump has been really, really leading her in. I also think immigration would be a good thing to tackle, because I think her stance on immigration, especially recently, is a lot tougher than a lot of people think. And she doesn't speak about those issues as much. And so Trump has been able to kind of take the lead on those things. And so I think without changing any stances, just kind of pushing out more of what she's already been saying, but specifically focusing on those things could be helpful.

Then again, I think it's pretty difficult to significantly sway many people at this point in one way or another. Yeah, I think I couldn't agree more with what you guys said. Just stay the course. Continue with that consistent, like, media presence. And in the last legs of the election, when people are kind of getting tired of it, get people excited to go out and vote and get that, like, hopeful feeling back that she kind of, like, got going in the very beginning of her campaign. Before we go, shout out to John and Anne, whose house this is. Thank you so much for having us. Is there anything you'd like to add, for instance? See you later. See you later. Bye.

POLITICS, ELECTIONS, VOTING, UNITED STATES, YOUTH VOTERS, PENNSYLVANIA, BBC NEWS