Nevada's swing state status is what recently brought Sarah Longwell to Las Vegas.

She's a Republican strategist who's conducting voter focus groups across the country.

And the focus group she held here was of particular interest to PBS' Judy Woodruff.

That's because its members voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and then for Joe Biden in 2020.

The veteran journalist made this focus group the focus of her latest episode in the series America at a Crossroads, and I had the honor of speaking with her about it.

So Judy, what stood out to you from what you heard here in Las Vegas?

-I would say, number one, the fact that Las Vegas voters, Nevada voters, are paying close attention to this election.

Every one of the voters who sat down with Sarah Longwell for these focus groups is paying close attention.

They have opinions about what's happening.

I was also struck by how many of them who switched their vote from Donald Trump in 2016 to Democrat, to Joe Biden in 2020, are sticking with him.

A few in each group, two in each group, said they were looking seriously at going back to voting Republican this time, which has to be of concern to the Democrats.

But in general, the ones who switched are sticking with it.

-Have you heard that in other places that you've traveled around the country?

-We have not, to be honest.

We have not been focused on this particular group of voters who are switching their view, who are, who are in a state that is already on the bubble.

Nevada is one of the key swing states.

We have not been looking at this particular swing group.

So this, to me, was all new.

-You've said that in your entire reporting career, right now is the most divided time in American politics that you have ever experienced and that part of the purpose of America at a Crossroads was to try and understand this moment in time.

What have you come to understand?

-One thing I've come to understand is that we are seriously divided and that the reasons for it are complex, that it clearly has to do with how our politics have changed, the way we-- the way we carry on elections, the way we carry on primaries, the fact that we are pushing voters farther to the side, to the edges, if you will, both Democrats and Republicans, through our primary system.

That clearly contributes to the divide.

It's also-- it also has to do with how people feel about the economy, how many Americans feel left out and don't feel government is listening to them.

There are still the overhang, if you will, of the 2008 financial collapse, people feeling-- many of whom either lost jobs themselves, they know people who lost jobs, or they don't feel they're able to keep up with the cost of living.

And that relates to the, not just the financial collapse of 2008, it relates to, certainly, the pandemic, what that did to the economy.

We're seeing that having a lingering effect on Americans as they vote in 2024.

We're also seeing the effect of the news media, the fact that so much of today's media is about the fight, the fact that there's one side and there's the other side and let's listen to them go at each other.

And that is being emphasized in what they see in the news and what they see in advertising.

It's what, certainly, what we see in social media.

So much of social media today is about one side going after and attacking the other side in a very, sometimes really vicious ways, because it's being done anonymously.

So that's part of it.

There's also a fact that many Americans just don't have time to follow the news, if you will, the mainstream news closely.

So all they hear is partisan news on one side or the other.

And many Americans are choosing only to listen to one side or another.

So they're listening to news that reinforces what they already think.

That contributes to division.

Religious beliefs, some of it has to do with people's ethnic background, you know, where they've grown up.

There's so many different factors, enough to make us understand that this is not going away quickly.

-That distrust in the media that exists right now, how does it compare to any other time in your career?

-It is the worst I've ever seen it.

It is-- it's not a brand new phenomenon.

We've seen it building over the years, but we are clearly at a place today, Amber, where many Americans tell us that they don't, they don't trust the media, the news media, as much as they used to.

They think the media is trying to sell them a particular point of view or that there's some conspiracy, some hidden hand at work in the news media.

Certainly, that's not the case with us at the NewsHour at all on PBS.

It's not the case with most of the mainstream media that I'm familiar with-- the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal.

It's not the case.

And yet, that's what people, many people say they believe.

-Personally, as a lifelong journalist, what is it like to hear that from the public?

-It's hard.

It's tough.

It's-- it pains me to know that there is less trust today and that some people don't want to talk to reporters.

They don't want to talk to the news media, because they think we're not on the level.

And so we have to work really hard every day, every story, every piece I do.

I work really, really hard.

My colleagues and I work really hard to make sure that we are getting our facts straight, that we're talking to people across the spectrum, just as we are with these voters.

These are voters from across the spectrum.

In other stories, we are talking to Trump voters.

We're talking to people who voted for Democrats, for Biden, for Hillary Clinton in the past.

We're trying to understand where people are coming from, how they're making their political decisions, what they're likely to do, how are they likely to vote, why, why not.

That's the main purpose of what we're doing, and we want people to be able to trust us.

So important.

-Another personal question: The division that politics has created among family and friends, have you experienced this firsthand?

-I would say not so much in my own family.

My children know that I'm a reporter, and they've long since learned it doesn't do any good to try to get me to tell them what I'm thinking about a particular candidate or a particular issue, because I try to keep it as much as I can.

-You don't share with your children?

-I try not to.

I absolutely-- they sometimes will tell me they can guess, but I think what's most important for me as a journalist is what I was taught in very early days.

I was working in a local news in Atlanta for a CBS station there, and I had a producer who said, Just remember, Judy, nobody gives a damn, he said, about what Judy Woodruff thinks.

What we want you to do is go out, take notes, cover the story, come back, and tell us what's going on.

And we don't want your opinion to play any role in your reporting.

And I've spent my career with that as my, as my, frankly, my central view.

-Well, I want to ask about George Stephanopoulos then.

You started this series with an interview with President Joe Biden.

That was 2023.

Fast forward, July 2024, he sits down with President Biden.

And afterward, he's out on the streets of New York.

Someone with a camera asks him, Do you think President Biden should step down?

And he says, I don't think he can serve four more years.

He later apologized for sharing his opinion publicly.

But I wonder, is there any responsibility for journalists to share this insight, especially in a situation involving the possible cognitive health of the President of the United States?

-My view is that if you're a reporter or if you're an anchor of a news program and your job is to convey news to the public, that you keep those views to yourself, personal views.

You report what other people are doing, are saying.

You interview people and ask their opinions, that's one thing, but it's not your job if you're a reporter or an anchor.

Now, different if you're a commentator, columnist, you're writing columns for a newspaper that are clearly labeled as opinion, or if you're a commentator, you're being interviewed on television, you're giving your opinion, and it's labeled as such.

That's different.

But if your job is to convey the news, I think it harms our credibility when we weigh in on one side or another.

I think we report what we see.

If George Stephanopoulos saw something in Joe Biden and he wanted to share that specific detail, that's one thing.

But I think to go a step further and to make the conclusion that someone should or shouldn't serve is-- that's a judgment call.

And I think that's up to the voter, and it's up to people who are paid to do commentary or who are paid to give their opinion.

-Did you consider interviewing former President Trump for America at a Crossroads?

-We have tried for a number of years, when I was anchoring the NewsHour, to have an interview with former President Trump.

We were never able to get one.

I pestered his team relentlessly.

And it was, it was always something that they, you know, they would come back and say, We would like to get back to you on that.

They never said no.

They just said, Not right now, not right now.

I still would welcome an interview with former President Trump.

-And when you were deciding on who to include in America at a Crossroads, I wonder what went into the decision to have certain groups on that are viewed by some as extreme; for example, Moms for Liberty out of North Carolina or the We the People clinic in Florida that serves people who do not believe in the COVID-19 vaccine.

What went into why you should have those people on?

-Because we believe in reporting on a spectrum of views.

We spoke to a woman who represents-- is active in Moms for Liberty in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

We wanted to speak to her because we were looking at how the Tulsa School Board is wrestling with tough questions about books that should be banned that might mention the history of race, the history of slavery in America.

We were talking to people in the black community in Tulsa who believe that, that you absolutely need to learn about the entirety of American history.

And others in Tulsa as well.

But the Moms for Liberty group is among those who their view is in so many words, that what's taught in the public schools, we need to be careful.

Teachers need to be careful not to see that some children are made to feel uncomfortable.

And what they would go on to say is that that means white children to feel uncomfortable.

They are very open about that view.

They don't want teachers to teach material that would make their children feel uncomfortable.

We think it's important to get that point of view in so that the viewer, the voters, can make up their own mind.

When we went to Florida to interview the people who were running the so called We the People clinic, it was an effort to explain how some people don't accept that COVID is a serious virus.

We know it killed millions of people around the globe, killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Their view is that it was mishandled in this country, that the virus, that the vaccines that were presented and given, shared with the American people, did more harm than good.

And that is a point of view that is shared by many Trump voters, by a number of Trump voters.

And we felt it was important to get that point of view across, because it's, it counters what the, what the Biden administration was putting forward.

-Right.

And I was talking about the interview, the Moms for Liberty interview in North Carolina.

That was regarding social media.

That was a fascinating episode.

-We did.

We looked at-- one of the pieces we looked at was looking at the role of media, in general, and how news media, cable television in particular, contributes to the division.

But then the other piece we did was looking at social media.

And you're right.

Depending on which side of the political spectrum you're on, you're looking at a different group of social media posts or a different group of social media sources.

And so we wanted to talk to one on the right.

That was Moms for Liberty.

We also talked to one or more on the left.

-Lastly, during your political reporting career, when were moderate politicians most prevalent?

And do you foresee the U.S. ever returning to that?

-I would say back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

And I've covered Washington since the 1970s.

It's not that the moderates were always winning, but they played a role in bringing the two sides together.

On Social Security, for example, there was a major compromise on Social Security in the 1980s that kept the Social Security program alive for years to come.

There were attempts by Republicans and Democrats, John McCain, Republican, and Democratic lawmakers coming together on immigration.

They were not able to get the legislation passed that they wanted, but they tried.

Today you just you don't see an effort like that that's successful.

There was an effort made in this last Congress by Democrats and Republicans, but they couldn't get enough Republicans to agree.

We'll see what happens in the future.

-Do you think we'll ever return to that time?

-I think that's a great question.

I would hope so.

As a, as a journalist who-- you know, I told you I don't think journalists should express our opinions on politics.

I don't think it's wrong to say that I'd like to see the country come to a place where we can at least work together, where you do see the two parties coming together to solve our greatest challenges, whether it be the role of government, government spending, immigration, in the environment.

I don't think it's too much to ask for, that it's a good thing for our country to see our elected political leaders able to solve these problems on our behalf.

I think that's-- I think that bodes well for America.

-And real quick, I'd kick myself if I didn't circle back.

But why do you not share your opinions with your children on politics?

-Well, because I was afraid they would tell somebody else.

-Okay.

-They all said, Oh, well, I'll keep it a secret.

But I knew, you know.

They have friends.

I knew they'd talk.

-That makes sense.

Judy Woodruff, thank you for joining Nevada Week.

-Absolutely.

Delighted to be here.

Thank you, Amber.

-To see Woodruff's Las Vegas report, look for the America at a Crossroads section at pbs.org/newshour.