peter grier is a senior writer with the "christian science monitor" and the author of their cover story, how do voters really decide. peter, what prompted you to look at how voters decide now, well ahead of next year's election? >> i started with a simple question. i was just thinking to myself, how much do the presidential candidates actually matter? the press covers the election like it's a giant reality show in which it's a struggle between dramatic personalities. is that the real story, or is it the other point of view which it's something determined by fundamentals. it's much more about the economy and things like that. and the candidates are just really ants on a floating stick who think they are steering. that was the framework i began with. >> how did you clear away the things we normally think about. you mentioned the media covering it like a reality show. the daily if not weekly, if not daily polls that are up and down. how did you clear away that influence and focus in on what voters choose based on. >> take a political scientist viewpoint of what the election is about. i loo

host: peter grier has the cover piece, "ho voters really decidew do." can read more online at csmonitor.com. peter grier, thank you for being with us is morning. that will about wrap it up for this morning. have a great day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, >> here is a look at what is ahead today on c-span. coming up in an hour or so, secretary of day john kerry will take about the iran nuclear agreement. chris coons became the 33rd senator to pledge support of the deal. the administration only needs one more senator to sustain a presidential veto. we are learning california democrat judy chu has tweeted out she will support the deal. still unclear when the house will consider the agreement after they return next week. secretary of s

after that, peter grier talks about his recent cover article on how voters really choose a candidate in a presidential campaign. washington journal is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> earlier today, tom bill sack talked about federal nutrition programs and urged congress to reauthorize and strengthen the school breakfast and lunch standards. this portion is 35 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. i'm president and ceo of the center for american progress. we are very honored to have secretary tom vilsack join us today. we have what should be one of congress' most important priorities as a returns from recess, reauthorization of child nutrition programs. too many children struggle with hunger in the classroom because their families are having making ends meet -- having trouble making ends meet. federal child nutrition programs such as school breakfast, lunch, meals, special supplemental nutrition programs for women, infants, and children, are vital to our children's success and to their families' economic security. congress has the responsibility to preserve these programs, wh

in our spotlight on magazine series, peter grier of the christian science monitor turns up to talk about his recent article on how americans decide who to vote for in presidential elections. "washington journal those quote is live for your phonecalls on c-span. secretary of state john kerry speaks about the iran nuclear agreement wednesday at the philadelphia constitution center. you can see it live at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> the c-span cities tour, working with our cable authority . we are joined by our charters to learn about the life of colorado. >> especially here in mesa county, outside of grand junction, we are surrounded by morrison rock. within morrison rock we find a lot of dinosaur bones and fossils. that intrigues scientists for a long time. another thing we often find is a mineral called corn arnatite. it is radioactive. it was used by murray curie -- marie curie. during the buildup to world war ii and during world war ii itself, it was of extreme value. it also contains uranium. uranium, as we know is one of the best sources for atomic power and atomic weapons.

peter grier of the christian science monitor talks about his recent article on how americans decide who to vote for in presidential elections. washington journal is live with your phone calls and tweets every morning on c-span at 7:00 a.m. eastern. kerry,retary of state energy secretary moniz, and treasury secretary lew testify about the iran nuclear deal. siz democrats -- six democrats and all republicans have come against the deal. this is about one hour. >> this hearing will come to order. today we continue our review of the nuclear agreement of the obama administration reaching with iran. this is a critical hearing on one of the most sweeping dramatic initiatives of years, some would say decades. demanding the committee's thorough review. the global threat from iran has been a focus of this committee for as long as i can remember. last congress, we passed country has of sentience -- comprehensive sanctions 20.islation by a vote of 400- it would give iran a choice between its nuclear program and collapse. but the administration was successful in blocking that legislation. so instead

at 9:15 our spotlight and magazine series features peter grier of "the christian science monitor" onhow americans decide who to vote for in elections. ♪ host: good morning. it is wednesday, september 2, 2015. welcome to "washington journal." president obama returns to the nation's capital after three days in alaska. andh of washington baltimore, police are bracing for protests as pretrial motions begin in the trials of the six police officers accused of shooting freddie gray. lake, illinois, the manhunt continues for the three suspects who gunned down police officer joe glisten with - g

will talk about it with julie appleby of kaiser health care in our spotlight on magazine series, peter grierf the christian science monitor joins us to talk about his recent article on how americans decide who to vote for in presidential elections. washington journal his life with phone calls -- is live with phone calls and tweets every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on seas -- c-span. >> secretary of state john kerry speaks about the iran nuclear agreement wednesday at the philadelphia constitution center. you can see it live at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. now a portion of a july senate foreign relations committee hearing on the iran your deal. the first hearing following the agreement, secretary of state john kerry, energy secretary ernest moneys, and treasury secretary jack lew discussed negotiation. this is an hour and 10 minutes. [applause] >> the committee will come to order. i want to thank the witnesses for being here today, and we look forward to a hearing. i want to thank all of those in attendance. i know there was a little bit of an outbreak prior to us convening. we thank y

. >> peter grier, senior writer for "christian science monitor" has our spotlight piece, "how do voters really decide" and you can read more online at csmonitor.com. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> that will wrap it up for this morning's "washington journal." thanks for being with us and we hope you're back with us tomorrow morning, 7:00 a.m. eastern. until then, have a great day. >>> secretary of state john kerry laid out his case for congress to approve the iran nuclear deal during a speech earlier today in philadelphia. you can see that tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. here's some of what he had to say. >> that because of our strength, the power of our banks, all we americans have to do if congress rejects this plan is return to the bargaining table, puff out our chests and demand a better deal. i've heard one critic say he would use sanctions to give iran a choice between having an economy or having a nuclear program. well, folks, that's a very punchy sound bite, but it has no basis in reality. as dick said, i was chair of the foreign relations committee wh

peter grier of the christian science monitor talks about his cover article on how people choose a candidate during a presidential campaign. "washington journal" is light wednesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. secretary of state john kerry speaks about the nuclear agreement at the philadelphia constitution center. you can see it live here on c-span. a signature feature of book tv is our coverage of book fairs and festivals across the country. beginning this weekend we are live from the 15th national festival. in early october, it is the southern festival of books in nashville. the weekend after that we are live from austin for the texas book festival. here the end of the month we are going to be covering to book festivals over the same weekend. then, we have the book festival in medicine. these closed we have the boston book festival. this will be followed by the national awards in new york city. it will be live for the atp or in a row for the miami book fair international. >> secretary of state kerry, and treasury secretary lew testified before the house foreign affairs committee. six de

after that, peter grier of the christian science monitor, a spotlight on the magazines series and he talks about how voters really choose a presidential candidate in a campaign. that's washington journal, tomorrow morning, live every morning at evan :00 a.m. eastern. president obama continues his three-day trip to alaska and above the arctic circle. yesterday afternoon, he laid out a vision of climate change for the state and the country. we talked about that on this morning off "washington journal." le leadern weiss, he is a of campaigns. who focuseseutzer on energy economics and climate change. thank you for joining us. the president prepares to travel to alaska to focus on climate change and global warming. he will be the first president to travel to the arctic circle. what can we expect? guest: i think the president is going to talk a lot about the need to make our communities more resilience to the impact of climate change. in alaska, for example, there are dozens of cities that are threatened from either erosion or softening tundra. they either have to be rebuilt or relocated,