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The Mishal Husain Show · 3 min · Oct 30, 2026
Mamdani's politics may not generalize beyond New York
Daron Acemoğlu
He praises Mamdani's charisma and focus on affordability, but says his politics may not reach working-class voters.
In this episode
Full analysis- 25:54AI investment should focus on making workers more productivePro pick 4 min
- 17:25Taxing capital income can curb incentives to over-automate3 min
- 22:35Mamdani's politics may not generalize beyond New York3 min
“And his brand of politics emphasizing socialism or other issues that are really so foreign to working class communities' daily concerns, I think, is not going to generalize.”
Daron Acemogluat 23:09 · The Mishal Husain Show
Takeaways
- Mamdani has made affordability a prominent issue.
- Acemoglu doubts his political approach will reach working-class communities.
- He wants bold economic ideas and a wider political coalition.
About this segment
He praises Mamdani's charisma and focus on affordability, but says his politics may not reach working-class voters. Daron Acemoğlu urges Democrats to pair bold economic policy with a broader, more moderate coalition.
Daron Acemoğlu is an MIT professor and 2024 Nobel Prize in economics co-winner.
Nobel-winning MIT economist who studies how AI and automation reshape work, productivity, inequality and economic growth.
Mishal Husain, Host · Host, The Mishal Husain Show
From “Nobel-Prize Winning Economist Daron Acemoglu on Musk, AI and Democracy | The Mishal Husain Show”, Oct 30, 2026. Watch the full episode
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Transcript
From the transcript The Mishal Husain Show publishes with the episode.
- 22:48
What do you think of Zohran Mamdani and what he's doing in New York? I think he has amazing charisma. I think he also is talking about absolutely the right issues. And he's talking about them in a very clear and compelling way. Affordability has become a household name because of him. So I think that's all to be applauded. But he also is a creation of a New York's milieu of politics. And in that sense, He's catering to that very left-leaning activist college graduate base. And his brand of politics emphasizing socialism or other issues that are really so foreign to working class communities' daily concerns, I think, is not going to generalize.
- 23:34
So in some sense, one needs to combine Mamdani's energy, charisma, with somebody who's got a much better way of talking to these communities and creating a bigger tent in terms of value.
- 23:47
Is that a warning to the Democrats then, not to be pushed as a party or as a future presidential candidate too far towards the Mamdani approach?
- 23:56
Absolutely. But, you know, many of the discussions of that issue in the United States is misleading because they create the impression that there is a single line that divides moderates versus progressives, and we have to choose a point along that line. No, I think we need to be radical in the way that we imagine liberalism, And we need to be radical in the way that we need to think about economic solutions, in particular about AI. I think this is not a time to be timid and say, oh, well, let's wait for another five years and see what Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman come up with about AI. So we need radicalism there, but we need to combine that with much greater moderation when it comes to issues that can create a bigger tent.
- 24:44
Progressives have made the mistake of Yes, they've thought radically, but at the same time, they've also narrowed the space, which is permitted. That's a cardinal sin in politics, and it's a cardinal sin when you want to build a liberal coalition.