Macro analytics

The Blindspot Index

Who owns the mic on each topic — measured across thousands of political podcast episodes, classified left to right and mined for what each side is actually talking about.

Window

How it works

Methodology

Every episode is transcribed word for word, then classified by AI into one of five stances — Far Left, Left-leaning, Centrist, Right-leaning, or Far Right — based on that episode's own content rather than a fixed label on the show. Episodes are grouped into left (Far Left plus Left-leaning), center, and right; topics are mined from the analyzed quotes. The Index aggregates these across rolling timeframes by air date. Figures update continuously as new episodes are processed and are current as of July 2026.

What the data shows

Key findings

  • As of July 2026, the large majority of tracked topics — roughly 84% — are covered asymmetrically, with one side of the spectrum giving them far more attention than the other.
  • Left- and right-leaning shows concentrate on different agendas, so the topics that "own the mic" differ sharply by side.
  • Because lean is measured per episode, a show's position on the spectrum reflects the balance of its recent content, not a permanent label.

More on the method in the FAQ.

134Podcasts
13,120Episodes
10,745Hours heard
39,659Quotes analyzed

2025-02-27 — 2026-07-21

The state of the spectrum

How the analyzed corpus splits left to right, and the headlines beneath it.

Left · 4,743Center · 2,393Right · 5,814

Share of analyzed quotes by the political stance of the source episode. The corpus tilts right — a reflection of which shows publish most, not an editorial choice.

Coverage asymmetry

80%

32 of 40 topics are covered lopsidedly

Freshness

49 / 314

episodes analyzed in the last 24h / 7d

Most one-sided topic

Religious freedom

Right +75

Most balanced topic

Police reform

Shared

Biggest mover

Election integrity

+258%

Movers this week

Biggest shifts in topic coverage vs. the prior four weeks.

Surging

  • Election integrity+258%
  • Criminal justice+140%
  • Corporate accountability+85%
  • LGBTQ+ rights+55%
  • Social media+51%
  • Tax reform+50%

Fading

  • Environmental protection-83%
  • Tech regulation-56%
  • Gender equality-27%
  • Voting rights-18%
  • Reproductive rights-18%
  • Cultural identity-14%

Attention by topic

How much each side of the spectrum talks about each topic. Click a row for the full five-point split.

Left Center Right

Bars show each topic's share of quotes by the political stance of the podcast episode. "Left" = Far Left + Left-leaning, "Right" = Right-leaning + Far Right. Lean is the net right-minus-left share of attention. Topics below a minimum volume in the selected window are omitted.

Leaderboards

The podcast spectrum

Every show with 30+ analyzed episodes, placed by its mean episode stance. Bubble size is volume.

Topic
Far LeftCenterFar Right

Who leads · Political polarization

  • The MeidasTouch Podcast
    364
  • The Sean Hannity Show
    294
  • Adam and Jordana
    208
  • The Social Contract with Joe Walsh
    190
  • Guy Benson Show
    164
  • ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes
    151
  • The Megyn Kelly Show
    138
  • Verdict with Ted Cruz
    129

Lean is the mean of each episode's stance on a −2 (Far Left) … +2 (Far Right) scale. Derived from episode stance because per-show stance is unlabeled in the source data.

Storylines

Narrative bundles

Topic pairs that keep showing up in the same episode — the threads the discourse ties together.

  • Democratic institutions×Political polarization
    1,078
  • Foreign policy×Political polarization
    756
  • Misinformation spread×Political polarization
    738
  • Democratic institutions×Foreign policy
    692
  • Foreign policy×National security
    565
  • Democratic institutions×Misinformation spread
    551
  • Foreign policy×Misinformation spread
    515
  • Democratic institutions×National security
    359
  • National security×Political polarization
    351
  • Democratic institutions×Immigration reform
    350
  • Democratic institutions×Election integrity
    337
  • Criminal justice×Democratic institutions
    293
  • Misinformation spread×National security
    288
  • Immigration reform×Political polarization
    265
  • Criminal justice×Political polarization
    257

Demand & voices

What's wanted, and how it sounds

Listener demand for briefings, and how each side actually phrases the fight.

What listeners ask for

Topics users request as on-demand briefings. Directional — a small sample.

  • National security
    49
  • Democratic institutions
    36
  • Iran warfree text
    29
  • Tech regulation
    15
  • Political polarization
    12
  • Economic inequality
    12
  • Foreign policy
    11
  • Trumpfree text
    5
  • US - China relationsfree text
    5
  • Iranfree text
    5
  • Scientific research
    3
  • Social media
    3

In their words · by side

Auto-selected sample lines — machine-picked, not editor-curated.

  • "And then right at the end, the CEO got on stage and kind of dropped a bombshell. So he told this whole stadium full of insurance sales agents, we're Xing your contract. We're moving you to a new contract."

    Left-leaning · Consumer protection

  • "America is no longer going to accept trade relations that this administration believes put American workers at any disadvantage. And by the way, this is what the majority of the American people voted for in the last presidential election."

    Right-leaning · Consumer protection

  • "So, did you deliberately look the other way to get the business and to help launder the money?"

    Left-leaning · Corporate accountability

  • "That’s why the globalists hate me is because I'm exposing their corporate worldwide tyranny."

    Right-leaning · Corporate accountability

  • "One of those candidates, Dari Eliza Avila Chevalier, was kind enough to lay it out on her social media feed the things that she believes. She called for abolishing police, prisons, and borders."

    Left-leaning · Criminal justice

  • "I knew what happened. You were afraid because you thought the killer was still in the house. I knew it. Absolutely."

    Right-leaning · Criminal justice

  • "And the story culminates, I feel like I can spoil this plot since it's been out for a couple thousand years. The story culminates with Odysseus coming back home and killing all of these suitors."

    Left-leaning · Cultural identity

  • "I'm telling you, there is a culture problem in America, and it is within the black community. And that has to be addressed, but nobody wants to talk about it."

    Right-leaning · Cultural identity