​Welcome to Binge Thinking. We invite professors and experts to give lectures in bars around Boston, NYC, and DC!

​In a world of AI slop, doomscrolling and brainrot, Binge Thinking brings real experts into real places for nights of learning, conversation, and community.

​Think Responsibly.

​Join us on Election Night and grab a drink as we skip the doomscrolling and the hot takes. Why does where you live say so much about how you vote?

​TOPIC:Polarization: The Future of America's Political Divisions

​SPEAKER:
Professor Stephanie Ternullo, Harvard University

​Red states, blue states, swing counties, and that one uncle at Thanksgiving. We tend to talk about American politics as a battle of opinions. But what if one of the biggest forces behind our political divides is something much more down to earth: place?

​Over decades, big political and economic transformations have reshaped both the kinds of people and the kinds of places that support the Democratic and Republican Parties, hardening political boundaries along lines of race, class, religion, and context. Working-class, ex-urban, and industrial communities that were once the bedrock of the Democratic Party are now the most hotly contested ground every election cycle, while the affluent suburbs that fueled conservative activism in the 1950s and 60s have become the Democratic Party's biggest growth areas.

​In this talk, Professor Stephanie Ternullo explores the historical causes and present-day consequences of these shifts in America's political map, and the challenges they create for American elections, including the very midterm being decided while we're in the room.

​Topics include:

​How place shapes America's polarized politics

​How decades of political-economic change reshaped who supports each party, and where

​Why former Democratic strongholds in working-class and industrial communities became the most contested ground every election

​How the affluent suburbs that once fueled conservative activism became the Democratic Party's biggest growth areas

​What these shifts in political geography mean for American elections, including the November 3rd midterms

​No yelling at the TV required: this is a night about understanding the map, not picking a side.

​Whatever the results, you'll walk out understanding the map a little better. Come for the politics, stay for the conversation (and maybe refresh the results with the rest of the room).

​About the Speaker

​Stephanie Ternullo is an Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University. Her research uses multiple methods to explore how social contexts shape Americans' political behavior.

​Her first book, How the Heartland Went Red: Why Local Forces Matter in an Age of Nationalized Politics (Princeton University Press, 2024), shows how place informs Americans' partisan attachments through a comparative study of three White, postindustrial cities during the 2020 presidential election. The book argues that we can best understand the reddening of the American Heartland by examining how local contexts have sped up or slowed down White voters' turn toward the right. In other research, she has examined how New Deal social policies reshaped political participation across different local contexts, how place reputation shaped gentrification in a Chicago neighborhood, and how redistricting into powerful wards in Chicago affects crime and city service provision. Her current project explores how changing state land-use policies are reshaping local political engagement in coastal suburbs.

​Stephanie received her PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago in 2022, and her research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, and Social Problems.

​Agenda

​7:00 PM - Doors Open (Grab a seat and drinks!)
7:30 PM - Lecture Begins
8:10 PM - Audience Q&A
8:30 PM - Drinks & Conversation
9:00 PM - Event Ends