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Where was tech policy in the presidential race before Biden dropped out? | The TechTank Podcast

July 22, 2024


  • Around this time in a presidential election year, technology has woven itself deeply into the fabric of campaigns, even within geopolitical discussions.
  • With all the discussion around who will take the presidential nominee seat for the Democrats, less has been shared about how each candidate will talk about tech policy.
An electronic voting machine that creates a paper ballot to be scanned is shown at an early poling location for the March 3 Super Tuesday primary in Santa Ana California, U.S., February 24, 2020. Picture taken February 24, 2020. Source: REUTERS/Mike Blake
Editor's note:

This episode was recorded before the announcement of Biden’s exit from the race on July 21, 2024.

For several years now, leaders in Washington have been battling it out to determine how our emerging world should be regulated. Woven into the fabric of the American political system are conversations about artificial intelligence, the U.S. and China’s competition surrounding technological advancement, and how technology is changing our democracy.  

In a presidential election year, it is important to consider where these conversations fit in. Technology has woven itself deeply into the fabric of campaigns, acting as a main method of communication between candidates and the electorate. It is an essential element of our everyday lives, yet, with all the partisan talk on both sides about who the candidates are and what their legacies are, there is little discourse about how candidates plan to do to aid tech regulation. Tech is infiltrating democratic processes, like voting. It is upending traditional ways in which consumers transact, and it is likely to model–based on who wins–the values, and resentments harbored by each candidate.  

This week on the TechTank Podcast, co-host Dr. Nicol Turner Lee is joined by Steven Overly, the host of POLITICO Tech, and Darrell West, TechTank Podcast co-host and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Together, they discuss where tech and tech policies are in the upcoming election and understand what hotbed issues resonate with candidates and voters.  

Listen to the episode and subscribe to the TechTank Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Acast.

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