Did the Opioid Epidemic Help Republicans Win?

The Argument • February 02, 2026

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Guests

Guest Role Confidence Extraction Method Actions
Carolina Arteaga Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow

Description

Over less than 25 years, the opioid epidemic killed over 800,000 Americans. These deaths and the resulting economic and political ramifications were unequally distributed across the country. Some places were ravaged, others barely noticed what was happening. In this episode, host Jerusalem Demsas is joined by economist Carolina Arteaga to unpack new research linking the opioid crisis to increasing vote share for the Republican party. They dig into how a public-health catastrophe came to...

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