Upper Midwest

And I loved it because that describes the experience of Asian American identity and how your hope is that all Americans, not only Asian Americans, will see themselves in a more nuanced dialectic.

So growing up as a racial minority in the Upper Midwest myself again, I share your desire to cultivate a new language to describe the messiness of the American experience for racial minorities and appreciate your effort in encouraging all Americans to examine and experience their identity through a dialectic lens.

Can you explain to listeners what you mean by a nuanced dialectic as it relates to the American experience?

I think there are many different aspects of this.

This is Real Presence Live on the RPR Network, bringing you stories of faith and hope through local hosts and guests from across the Upper Midwest.

Now, back to the show.

Good morning and welcome back to Real Presence Live.

As we head into these final days before the midterm election, things are looking very good for Democrats.

But are the polls overestimating just how good of a night it may be for Democrats? especially in the Upper Midwest? And what to make of the drastic shift of Latino voters away from Trump, especially in places like Texas and Florida? Was Trump's success with these voters in 2024 an aberration or proof that these voters are now officially up for grabs? That's why, this week, I reached out to Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini.

He's a guy who has spent a lot of time studying and analyzing these same questions.

He is a partner and pollster at Echelon Insights, the author of the popular substack, The Intersection.

what is possible under the map

yeah

and how does the environment translate to the map right um and so i get this question because i've apparently become some sort of spokesman for the idea that those are either going to be a polling miss or it's not going to be as good a night for democrats right and so i want to lay that to rest i mean it very well could be a good night for democrats and um you know if you have them up eight on the generic ballot it's pretty clear they're going to win a lot of places, right? The challenge has been is, and we've seen this before in 2016, which was a year where people were quite surprised, where people were very focused on the national environment, people were very focused on the national polls, but what really mattered were the polls in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in those upper Midwest Rust Belt states.

And the 2026 equivalent to that is this idea is that most of the key battlegrounds, at least in the Senate, are in states that won by double digits.

In 1996, we didn't have the resources that we have today to fact-check whether this is true or not.

With the presentation of the upper Midwest as kind of close enough, I'm guessing a pretty high percentage of people just went with it.

Of course, we know now that the story is completely fabricated, but the twists and turns are almost outlandish enough to make people think twice and go, yeah, this could have happened.

And that regional realism piece, I mean, I can tell you that the Coens probably took their Minnesota experience and dialed it up from 10 to maybe 11 or enhanced the accents and vernacular to 115 or maybe 120%.

If you're a cinephile, you will find something, probably multiple things to appreciate.

And you will like this movie if you know the experience of living in a snow-covered landscape and understand the struggles that come with it.

There are so many little digs at life in the Upper Midwest, it's hard not to rejoice in agreement for each one that you catch.

If you have a sense of humor and have ever been subject to shoveling snow off your driveway at 6 a.m. when it's deathly quiet, and you have to do it or else you can't get to work that day, you understand the isolation feeling that is presented in this movie.

Hello, everybody.

God, it's another gorgeous day here in the Upper Midwest.

And I guess today I should welcome folks who are listening in Atlanta on WMLB AM 1690 and in Phoenix at KFN 1510.

So welcome to the family, guys.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored today to have the Joint Service Colored Guard representing the Army, the Marine Corps, the Navy, and the Air Force.

Now, during the past three weeks, baseball fans around the world have heard the highly bookable Metropolitan and Metrodome support for the Minnesota Twins from the Twin Cities in the Upper Midwest.

Our national anthem seekers today will be accompanied

by organist Ronnie Newman.