Kimberly Adams

You might think, or maybe hope, it's too early to start thinking about this year's midterm elections.

But for the folks trying to shape the outcome of those elections, like the policy wonks here in D.C., I can assure you it is not.

We are well into it.

Last week, I led a panel discussion at an Aspen Institute event in my neck of the woods, and it was all about what issues matter most to American families right now.

The conversation revealed a lot about how voters are feeling about the economy and our government heading into this election season.

So we're going to share some of that today.

This particular panel was made up of folks who work in the world of polling and political strategy on both sides of the aisle.

Nat Kendall-Taylor, who's the CEO of the Frameworks Institute, a communications research organization.

Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, which is a progressive-leaning political research and strategy firm.

And Brian Nienaber, who's the vice president of the Terrence Group, a Republican research and strategy firm.

All right, let's get into the conversation.

I want to start off because all y'all work in sort of polling and data.

And often when we're talking about children and families, we're thinking social workers, teachers, and people who are often on the front lines working with families.

I would love for you all to talk about why it's important to be chatting about the data when we're talking about ways to actually serve children and families.

Brian, why don't you go first?

So, Linda, can you talk about the work that you do and how this shows up there?

And that comes to you and your work in terms of how people think, not only think about these issues, but how they act on them.

We're going to take a quick break.

We'll be right back.

All right.