What ‘Ted Lasso’ tells us about 2024

“Ted Lasso”has just ended its three-year run on Apple+ TV. The lead character, brilliantly played by Jason Sudeikis, has become a cultural icon. The winner of two Emmy awards for his portrayal of Coach Lasso, Sudeikis attributes his series’ success to its gift of speaking to the moment in our political life.

Originally conceived by Sudeikis in 2013, Ted Lasso was a belligerent character. But when the series debuted in 2019, Lasso became the embodiment of kindness and decency. His likability won the hearts and minds of his teammates and television viewers alike.

Sudeikis says the change in the qualities associated with Ted Lasso were a direct response to Donald Trump. Trump’s belligerence, and the political polarization he exacerbated, caused Sudeikis to use the show as a call for change: “I hated how people weren’t listening to one another. Things became very binary, and I don’t think that’s the way the world works.” Sudeikis, living vicariously through Ted Lasso, vowed to “be the change you want to see in the world.”

Ted Lasso spoke to the politics of the moment. When Joe Biden was elected in 2020, he tapped into a public longing for decency. After four years of Trump’s bombasts, voters wanted a president who would tone down the rhetoric. Biden has tried to do just that. As Sudeikis says of Biden, “It’s like meeting your good friend’s father or your young friend’s grandfather. He just makes you feel at home.”

In 2020, Biden’s personal story resonated with voters who knew the tragedies he suffered. After Biden’s son Beau died in 2015, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called Joe Biden “as good a man as God created.” Graham was right then and now.  

There have been other moments when the popular culture provided a better barometer than the polls. Norman Lear’s “All in the Family,” which premiered in 1971, cast Archie Bunker as the archetypical Richard Nixon supporter. Bunker, a blue-collar worker living in Queens, railed against educated elites. Bunker’s antagonisms foretold the growing alienation between blue-collar voters and the Democratic Party.

In his masterful biography of Jimmy Carter, Jonathan Alter observed that in 1975 Robert Altman’s film “Nashville” featured a sound truck blaring rural populist messages from an unseen presidential candidate campaigning against all lawyers. One year after the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon’s resignation, non-lawyer Jimmy Carter offered himself to an alienated electorate as the ultimate Washington outsider and won.

Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, was particularly attuned to the cultural trends of the moment. Before his reputation was scandalized by sexual assaults and subsequent convictions, Bill Cosby’s memorable character, Heathcliff Huxtable, dominated television airwaves. In 1987, Time magazine wrote: “Like Ronald Reagan, another entertainer with a warm, fatherly image who peaked relatively late in life, Cosby purveys a message of optimism and traditional family values.” “The Cosby Show” became a weekly forum for repeating Reagan’s mantra of family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom.

The 1997 film “Air Force One” starring Harrison Ford as U.S. President James Marshall spoke to a public desire for a heroic president. In the film, Marshall was aboard the presidential plane when it was hijacked by Russian terrorists. The president-as-hero provided a sharp contrast to the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that resulted in Clinton’s impeachment.

Three years later, Vietnam War hero and former prisoner of war John McCain stunned George W. Bush by winning the New Hampshire primary by an astounding 19 points. Although McCain ultimately lost to Bush, Bush captured the cultural zeitgeist by promising voters: “When I put my hand on the Bible [to take the presidential oath], I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God.”

Ted Lasso’s popularity tells us a lot about what may happen in 2024. The enduring likability of the character – and the longing of television viewers for more – speaks to voters’ exhaustion with the partisan polarization and vitriolic rhetoric. Among the leading presidential contenders (Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Joe Biden), only Biden is known for being a nice, warm fellow.

Today, Trump’s bombasts are reaching stratospheric levels thanks in part to the mounting criminal indictments lodged against him.

Ron DeSantis is not known for being a kinder, gentler version of Trump. During one 2018 gubernatorial debate, DeSantis was advised to write on a notepad the word “LIKABLE.”

But in his 50-year political career, voter encounters with Joe Biden are legendary. A recent example came after Biden’s appearance at the Safer Communities Summit, which brought together survivors of gun violence. One was Erick Bellomy whose father was murdered. Carrying a picture of his late parent, Biden spotted Bellomy in the crowd.

Walking to him, the president grabbed Bellomy by the shoulder saying, “You know it’s Father’s Day,” adding, “you are his twin.” A White House photographer snapped a photo, leaving Bellomy to post on Twitter: “President Biden is one of the most genuine elected officials you can ever meet, and he will listen to you and your story. I can’t wait to get that picture. It’ll be framed and saved forever. Out of the times that I’ve met and talked to him, this day is by far the most special.”

So, if the cultural barometers are any indication and a weary public wants a likable candidate, my bet is on Joe Biden in 2024.

John Kenneth White is a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America. His latest book, co-authored with Matthew Kerbel, is “American Political Parties: Why They Formed, How They Function, and Where They’re Headed.” He can be reached at johnkennethwhite.com