Election Trivia Smackdown

October 30, 2024·40 min·3 clips

Victoria Woodhull nominated Frederick Douglass as her running mate in 1872, but he never acknowledged her campaign.

Hey, pop quiz. Simone starts with a ballot question that sounds easy, then owns up to not knowing the answer herself. The number is 470: every House seat, plus more than a third of the Senate seats up on November 8th. Then the game kicks in. Instead of the usual narrative-history spine, this one goes full election trivia, with Headcount.org close by as the civic nudge. Pecan pie, Madonna, Star Trek, and old political slogans all get teased along the way. Emma and Mike play along, and the excerpt drops in mid-round as they weigh the Help America Vote Act against Justin and Britney's matching denim outfits. Emma stays with her answer. Bad call. The denim moment hit at the 2001 American Music Awards, and the voting law came in 2002. Then, because this game has range, dental floss enters the chat. Mike guesses that the current form of the Electoral College came first, and he is right. Dental floss was first recommended by a dentist in 1815. The Electoral College had already been firmed up by the 12th Amendment in 1804. Naomi checks the polls: Mike has three points, Emma has two, and Simone treats the whole thing like an election night nail-biter. The room stays loose through the final turn, sliding from ballot facts into credits, Spotify plugs, crosswords, and a tiny Spelling Bee flex.

As heard by us

A fast, game-show spin on election season that folds civic trivia into pop-culture banter.

The episode leans into a brisk quiz-night rhythm. Simone Polanin starts with a question about congressional seats on November 8, then keeps widening the field to Pecan Pie, Madonna, Star Trek, and some genuinely unhinged political slogans from history.

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Why you'd press play

A special-election trivia game where voting facts, pop culture, and friendly chaos all collide.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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