The 18 Best Politics Podcasts (2026)

The NPR Politics Podcast has been the gold standard for daily political news coverage since 2015, and it is not hard to see why. Every weekday afternoon, a rotating cast of NPR's sharpest political correspondents -- Tamara Keith, Sarah McCammon, Miles Parks, and others -- sit down for a quick, punchy rundown of whatever just happened in Washington. Episodes clock in at around 12 to 27 minutes, which makes them perfect for a commute or a lunch break.

What makes this show stand out from the pack is the depth of NPR's reporting bench. You are not getting one person's take recycled five days a week. Instead, the host changes depending on the story, so the White House correspondent covers the president, the voting correspondent covers elections, and the justice reporter handles the courts. That specialization means you are actually getting informed analysis rather than surface-level punditry.

The tone stays conversational without being flippant. These are real journalists who have spent years building sources and covering their beats, and that experience shows up in the way they explain not just what happened but why it matters. They rarely get into shouting matches or performative outrage. The show has maintained a 4.4 rating across more than 25,000 reviews, and it earned that reputation by being consistently reliable across two thousand episodes and counting. If you want one politics podcast that gives you the straight story without wasting your time, this is the one.

Pod Save America basically invented the modern political podcast when Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor launched it in 2017. All four are former Obama administration staffers, and they bring an insider perspective that most commentators simply cannot match. They know how the sausage gets made because they spent years making it.

New episodes drop on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, running anywhere from 55 minutes to over an hour and a half. The format is loose and conversational -- these guys genuinely seem to like each other, and the banter flows naturally between policy analysis and well-timed jokes. They regularly bring on journalists, politicians, activists, and the occasional celebrity, though the strongest episodes tend to be just the four of them arguing about strategy.

The show does not pretend to be neutral. It comes from a progressive perspective and is upfront about that, which is actually refreshing compared to shows that claim objectivity while clearly leaning one direction. With over 84,000 ratings and a 4.5-star average across 1,400 episodes, they have built one of the largest political podcast audiences in the country. Their "Friends of the Pod" subscriber community gets bonus content and ad-free episodes. If you are on the left and want smart, funny people breaking down what is happening and what to do about it, Pod Save America delivers consistently.

Ezra Klein might be the best interviewer working in podcasting right now. His show, now housed at the New York Times, publishes twice a week and features long, probing conversations that regularly stretch past the one-hour mark. Klein has this unusual ability to take genuinely complicated subjects -- climate policy, the mechanics of political polarization, theories of consciousness -- and make them feel urgent and accessible without dumbing them down.

The guest list reads like a syllabus from the most interesting graduate seminar you never took. One week it is a leading climate scientist, the next it is a philosopher or a novelist or a sitting senator. Klein does his homework. You can tell he has actually read the book, studied the paper, thought through the counterarguments. His questions build on each other in ways that push conversations into territory the guest did not expect to visit.

Klein comes from a center-left policy background, having founded Vox before moving to the Times, and his analytical instincts show. He is less interested in who said what outrageous thing today and more interested in the structural forces shaping American politics over decades. That can occasionally make the show feel more like a seminar than a podcast, but for listeners who want to actually understand why things are the way they are, there is nothing else quite like it. A 4.3 rating across nearly 14,000 reviews says plenty about the audience it has built.

Love him or not, Ben Shapiro runs one of the most listened-to political podcasts in America. The show drops daily, Monday through Friday, with full episodes running 50 to 70 minutes and shorter reaction clips clocking in at around 15 minutes. Shapiro talks fast -- famously fast -- and covers an enormous amount of ground in each episode, touching on everything from Supreme Court decisions to cultural controversies to economic data.

The show is unapologetically conservative. Shapiro wears that on his sleeve, and his audience of over 150,000 raters on Apple Podcasts (averaging 4.4 stars) clearly appreciates the directness. He built The Daily Wire into a media company partly on the strength of this podcast, and the production values reflect that investment. Full episodes feature structured segments where he works through the day's headlines with commentary, while bonus segments like "Ben After Dark" take a more freewheeling approach.

Shapiro's style is rapid-fire argumentation. He lays out premises, cites data, and moves to conclusions at a pace that rewards attentive listening. Critics find him glib; fans find him incisive. Either way, he has maintained a daily output for years without running out of things to say, which is a genuine accomplishment. If you want a conservative perspective delivered with energy and intellectual ambition, this is probably the biggest show in that space.

Political Gabfest has been running since 2005, making it one of the true veterans of the political podcast world. Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz have spent nearly two decades hashing out the week's politics with a chemistry that only comes from that kind of longevity. Stephen Colbert once said everyone should listen to it, and honestly, he was not wrong.

Each episode runs about an hour and typically covers three main topics pulled from the week's news cycle. The format is deceptively simple -- three smart people talking -- but the execution sets it apart. Bazelon brings deep legal expertise from her work at Yale Law School and the New York Times Magazine. Dickerson has decades of political journalism experience, including stints at CBS and Slate. Plotz brings a wry editorial sensibility that keeps things grounded.

The tone is the best thing about this show. It is genuinely thoughtful without being stuffy. They disagree with each other regularly, sometimes sharply, but it never feels performative. You get the sense they are actually working through their thinking in real time rather than reciting predetermined positions. Apple Podcasts listeners voted it their favorite political podcast, and with a 4.4 rating across more than 8,000 reviews, the audience clearly agrees. Slate Plus subscribers get weekly bonus episodes, but the free show alone is worth your time.

Tim Miller hosts the flagship podcast of The Bulwark, and if you are looking for the Never Trump conservative perspective, this is ground zero. The show drops daily on weekdays, with episodes typically running 40 to 60 minutes. Miller brings in heavy hitters -- Bill Kristol, Adam Kinzinger, Jane Coaston, Robert Kagan -- for conversations that cut through what the show calls both-sides nonsense.

Miller is a former Republican operative who worked on Jeb Bush's 2016 campaign, and that background gives him a particular vantage point on the transformation of the Republican Party. He knows the players, he knows the playbook, and he is not shy about calling out former allies. That combination of insider knowledge and willingness to burn bridges makes for compelling listening, even when you disagree with his conclusions.

The Bulwark positions itself as a home for the "reality-based community," and the podcast reflects that ethos. It is pro-democracy, anti-populist, and stubbornly principled in ways that put it at odds with both the MAGA right and the progressive left. With a 4.6 rating from nearly 11,000 reviews, it has clearly found an audience hungry for that particular brand of political commentary. The show is part of a broader Bulwark media ecosystem that includes several related podcasts, but this flagship show is the essential one.

Breaking Points built its identity on being the anti-establishment politics show, and it has stuck to that brand with remarkable consistency. Krystal Ball comes from the progressive left, Saagar Enjeti from the populist right, and together with co-hosts Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky, they produce a daily show that takes aim at institutional power regardless of which party holds it.

Episodes run 45 minutes to well over an hour, with the hosts tackling several stories per show. The format works because Ball and Enjeti genuinely come from different ideological places but share a skepticism of corporate media, big tech, and political establishments of both parties. When they agree on something, it usually means both sides of the aisle should be paying attention. When they disagree, the debate feels real because it is.

The show grew out of their time co-hosting Rising at The Hill, and they brought a massive audience with them when they went independent. With 1,400 episodes and nearly 10,000 ratings averaging 4.3 stars, they have proven the model works. Breaking Points fills a niche that most political media ignores: the space where populist left and populist right overlap on issues like trade, war, and corporate power. It is not centrist exactly. It is more like an alliance of the political fringes against the middle, and that makes it one of the more unpredictable political shows out there.

Three brothers -- Ben, Brett, and Jordan Meiselas -- turned a viral video operation into one of the most listened-to progressive political podcasts in the country. Ben is a lawyer who has worked with Colin Kaepernick. Brett is a two-time Emmy-winning video editor. Jordan came from advertising. Together, they bring a combative, high-energy approach to political commentary that has resonated with a massive audience they call the MeidasMighty.

Full episodes featuring all three brothers drop every Tuesday and Friday morning, with daily breaking news updates filling the gaps. Episodes range from quick 20-minute takes to full hour-plus deep dives, and the brothers also do live video broadcasts on Monday and Thursday evenings. The production pace is relentless.

The show wears its politics openly. This is progressive, pro-democracy commentary delivered with the intensity of a courtroom closing argument -- fitting, given Ben's legal background. They regularly interview political leaders and break down legal proceedings with a level of detail that reflects their professional expertise. A 4.9 rating across nearly 50,000 reviews is extraordinary by any standard, and it speaks to how strongly their audience connects with the show's mission. The family dynamic adds a warmth that balances the intensity of the political coverage. MeidasTouch is not trying to be fair and balanced. It is trying to be loud, informed, and effective.

Hacks On Tap is what happens when you put three veteran political operatives in a room and let them talk shop. David Axelrod (Obama's chief strategist), Mike Murphy (longtime Republican consultant), and John Heilemann (journalist and co-author of Game Change) bring centuries of combined campaign experience to a weekly show that runs about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.

The magic here is the behind-the-scenes perspective. These are not pundits guessing about campaign strategy from the outside. They have actually run campaigns at the highest levels, on both sides of the aisle. When Axelrod and Murphy spar about political tactics, they are drawing on real experience managing real races. That insider knowledge shows up in the specificity of their analysis -- they talk about ad buys, polling crosstabs, and ground game logistics with the fluency of people who have lived it.

The show leans bipartisan by design. Axelrod from the left, Murphy from the right, Heilemann as the journalist referee. That structure keeps the conversation honest in ways that single-perspective shows cannot match. They regularly bring in guest experts -- political reporters, strategists, pollsters -- who add even more depth. With a 4.7 rating from over 7,700 reviews, it has earned a reputation as one of the smartest political shows around. If you want to understand how politics actually works rather than just who is winning today, Hacks On Tap delivers every week.

Rachel Maddow has been a fixture of progressive political media for years, and her weekly MSNBC show -- which airs Monday nights at 9 PM Eastern and then hits the podcast feed -- remains one of the most watched and listened-to political programs in the country. Episodes typically run about 43 to 45 minutes, and Maddow uses every one of those minutes.

Her style is distinctive and hard to replicate. She builds narratives. Where most political commentators react to the day's headlines, Maddow constructs elaborate, meticulously sourced stories that connect dots across weeks, months, and sometimes decades. She will spend fifteen minutes laying the historical groundwork for a story before arriving at the news peg, and somehow it works. That storytelling approach makes her show feel more like investigative journalism presented as a monologue than traditional cable news commentary.

Maddow interviews guests -- politicians, journalists, legal experts, activists -- but the signature element is her solo analysis segments, where she walks through a complex story with the patience of a professor and the conviction of a prosecutor. With over 34,000 ratings and a 4.4-star average, the audience is enormous and devoted. The show focuses heavily on government accountability, democratic institutions, and investigative reporting. If you appreciate thorough, narrative-driven political analysis from a progressive perspective, Maddow remains essential listening.

The Dispatch Podcast occupies an interesting spot in the political media ecosystem. Founded by Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg -- both prominent conservative writers who left established institutions over disagreements with the direction of the right -- the show offers what it calls a non-partisan conservative perspective. Episodes run about an hour to an hour and a half, publishing weekly with a panel format.

Hayes typically hosts, joined by rotating panelists including Goldberg, Megan McArdle, David French, and Sarah Isgur. The discussion follows a structured agenda with labeled topics, moving through the week's major stories with a deliberateness that sets it apart from more reactionary shows. They take time to reason through positions rather than scoring quick rhetorical points.

The intellectual seriousness is the selling point here. These are people who take conservative principles -- limited government, rule of law, institutional integrity -- genuinely seriously, even when that puts them at odds with the current Republican coalition. That creates some fascinating tensions, particularly when they grapple with stories where traditional conservative values clash with populist politics. With a 4.6 rating across more than 3,200 reviews and over 600 episodes, the show has built a loyal following. It includes occasional lighter segments for cultural commentary, but the core appeal is thoughtful, principled policy discussion from a right-of-center vantage point.

The Lawfare Podcast sits at the intersection of national security, law, and politics, and it has become essential listening for anyone trying to understand the legal dimensions of American governance. The show publishes daily and has amassed roughly 2,000 episodes, featuring conversations with experts, policymakers, and legal scholars who actually know what they are talking about.

Multiple hosts rotate through -- Alina Polyakova, Evelyn Douek, Kate Klonick, Natalie Orpett, Quinta Jurecic -- each bringing specific expertise in areas like cybersecurity, foreign policy, constitutional law, and tech regulation. Episodes range from 35 minutes to over 90 minutes depending on the topic. The show includes several recurring series, like Rational Security for weekly news roundups and Scaling Laws for tech-focused analysis.

What makes Lawfare indispensable is its rigor. When a constitutional crisis hits or a major legal battle erupts, this is where the actual experts come to explain what is happening and what it means. The hosts ask precise, informed questions, and the guests respond with the kind of nuance you do not get from cable news panels. A 4.7 rating from more than 6,200 reviews reflects the trust this show has earned. It can be dense -- this is not background listening -- but if you want to genuinely understand the legal machinery of American politics, no other podcast comes close.

Pod Save the World is the foreign policy sibling of Pod Save America, hosted by Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes. Vietor was Obama's National Security Council spokesperson, and Rhodes served as Deputy National Security Advisor. Between them, they spent years in the Situation Room making decisions about wars, diplomacy, and intelligence, and that experience infuses every episode.

The show publishes weekly, with episodes running a hefty 75 to 105 minutes. Each one typically covers several international stories, breaking down conflicts, treaties, elections, and crises around the globe. Vietor and Rhodes have an easy rapport -- they have been friends and colleagues for years -- and their conversations feel like overhearing two former insiders trying to make sense of a chaotic world.

Foreign policy podcasts are rare, and good ones are even rarer. This show fills that gap by making global politics accessible without oversimplifying it. They bring on journalists, diplomats, academics, and other experts who add ground-level perspective that the hosts' Washington experience sometimes misses. The show comes from a progressive, internationalist viewpoint, and it does not pretend otherwise. With a 4.8 rating across more than 24,000 reviews, it has built one of the largest foreign policy podcast audiences in existence. If you care about America's role in the world and want smart people explaining what is actually going on out there, this show is hard to beat.

Chris Hayes is one of those hosts who makes you feel smarter just by listening to him. All In publishes daily, with episodes running around 41 to 46 minutes each. Hayes covers the biggest political stories of the day with a commitment to accountability journalism that goes beyond surface-level commentary. He is genuinely interested in systems and structures -- how power works, who benefits, and who gets left behind.

The format blends Hayes's own analysis with interviews featuring politicians, journalists, policy experts, and activists. He has a knack for asking the follow-up question that most interviewers skip, the one that gets past talking points and into actual substance. His guests range from Democratic legislators to investigative reporters to academics, and the conversations tend to be substantive rather than performative.

Hayes came up through progressive media -- he started at The Nation and then moved to MSNBC -- and his perspective reflects that background. But he is also genuinely curious and willing to engage with complexity in ways that distinguish him from more predictable partisan commentators. He will spend time on a story about labor organizing or environmental regulation that other shows ignore entirely. With 253 episodes and a 4.5-star rating from over 5,100 reviews, the podcast version of his MSNBC show has found a strong audience. The premium tier offers ad-free listening for a few dollars a month.

Congressional Dish is unlike any other political podcast you will find. Jennifer Briney does something almost nobody else does: she actually reads the bills. Not summaries, not talking points, not press releases -- the actual text of legislation moving through Congress. Then she breaks it down in plain English so you can understand what your representatives are really voting on.

Episodes publish monthly and range from 40 minutes to nearly two hours depending on the complexity of the legislation being covered. Briney walks through congressional hearings, reads relevant provisions, and provides context that makes dense legal language understandable. The pace is deliberate, and she takes the time to explain terms, trace funding streams, and connect legislative provisions to real-world consequences.

This is an independent production with no corporate backing or party affiliation, and that independence shows. Briney follows the legislation wherever it leads, criticizing both parties when the text warrants it. She has been doing this since 2012, and the depth of knowledge she has accumulated about how Congress actually operates is remarkable. With a 4.6 rating from over 1,100 reviews, the audience is smaller than the mega-shows but fiercely loyal. If you are tired of political commentary that never gets past the horse race to talk about what government is actually doing, Congressional Dish is the antidote. It requires more attention than most podcasts, but the payoff is real understanding.

The Lincoln Project started as a group of Republican strategists and operatives who broke with their party over Donald Trump, and the podcast extends that mission into long-form audio. Rick Wilson serves as the primary host, joined by co-founder Reed Galen, with episodes dropping twice a week and running anywhere from 34 to 82 minutes.

Wilson is a longtime Republican media consultant who knows how to construct a political message, and that skill translates directly to the podcast. He is blunt, often profane, and completely uninterested in diplomatic hedging. The show features interviews with political figures and cultural commentators alongside Wilson's standalone commentary segments called "Elephant in the Room." The guest roster tends toward people who share the show's pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian perspective.

The Lincoln Project earned its reputation through devastatingly effective political ads, and the podcast carries that same combative energy. Wilson says the things other commentators think but will not say out loud, which makes the show compelling even when you think he is being unfair. The tradeoff is that ad density runs high -- multiple listeners have noted frequent commercial breaks -- which can disrupt the flow. With 570 episodes, a 4.6 rating, and nearly 9,000 reviews, the audience has remained substantial. If you want political commentary delivered with the intensity of someone who genuinely believes democracy is on the line, this show delivers that urgency consistently.

Left, Right & Center does exactly what the name promises: it puts people from different parts of the political spectrum in a room and lets them argue. Produced by KCRW, the legendary Santa Monica public radio station, the show has been running for years and remains one of the few genuine cross-partisan political discussions on the air.

David Greene hosts, with Josh Barro and Rich Lowry serving as regular panelists representing different ideological viewpoints. Each week, they bring in guests from across the political map -- progressive voices like Mo Elleithee alongside conservative commentators like Sarah Isgur Flores -- to debate the biggest stories. Episodes run about 50 minutes, packed tight with substantive back-and-forth.

The format is the star here. In a media environment where most political shows are echo chambers catering to one audience, Left, Right & Center insists on genuine ideological diversity in every episode. That does not mean false equivalence -- the hosts push back on weak arguments regardless of which side makes them. Greene moderates with a light touch, giving panelists room to develop their positions before challenging them. The show has a 3.9 rating from nearly 5,000 reviews, lower than some competitors, partly because the format inherently annoys partisans on both sides. But that is kind of the point. If you want to hear how the other side actually thinks rather than a caricature of it, this is one of the few places to go.

Blowback describes itself as "a podcast about the American Empire," and it lives up to that ambitious tagline. Hosted by Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, each season is a multi-episode deep dive into a major U.S. military intervention or foreign policy disaster -- Iraq, Cuba, Korea, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and most recently Angola. The show has 79 episodes across six seasons, and the production quality is genuinely cinematic, with layered audio that makes each season feel like a documentary series.

With a 4.8 rating from over 3,100 reviewers, Blowback has built a passionate audience that appreciates both the research depth and the willingness to be critical. James and Kulwin don't shy away from examining the consequences of American foreign policy decisions, and they bring enough historical context to make you understand how these situations developed rather than just what happened. Episodes run 50 minutes to over an hour, and the biweekly release schedule gives the team time to maintain their high production standards.

The show isn't neutral -- it takes a clearly critical stance toward American interventionism -- and that's worth knowing going in. But even listeners who disagree with the editorial perspective tend to respect the research. The seasonal format means each arc tells a complete story, and you can start with whichever conflict interests you most. Season 1 on Iraq remains the most popular entry point. If you want history that doesn't pull punches about America's role in the world, Blowback is the show.