Kimberly Adams

We'll see you then.

Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergseeker.

Today's program was engineered by John Foche.

Ben Talladay and Daniel Ramirez composed our theme music.

Our interim supervisory senior producer is Stephanie Seek.

Nancy Fargali is executive producer of Marketplace Shows.

And Marketplace's vice president and general manager is Neil Scarborough.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Kimberly Adams.

Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where none of us is as smart as all of us.

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.