Danish Journalist Biking Across America Covering Election

Danish Journalist Lars Toft Rasmussen poses in studio with Worldview’s Jerome McDonnell.
Danish Journalist Lars Toft Rasmussen poses in studio with Worldview's Jerome McDonnell. Julian Hayda / WBEZ
Danish Journalist Lars Toft Rasmussen poses in studio with Worldview’s Jerome McDonnell.
Danish Journalist Lars Toft Rasmussen poses in studio with Worldview's Jerome McDonnell. Julian Hayda / WBEZ

Danish Journalist Biking Across America Covering Election

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When Danish Journalist Lars Toft Rasmussen studied abroad in San Francisco and New York City, he drew conclusions on the American worldview from his cosmopolitan friends and colleagues. But over the last four decades that he’s been interested in American culture and politics, he realized that he only knew the liberal half of the country.

In 2012, Denmark TV2, the station Rasmussen serves on the editorial board of, sent him to America to report on the country’s more conservative side. An avid bicyclist, Rasmussen realized the best way to reach rural America would be on two wheels. Then, he biked from Seattle to Washington to uncover Mitt Romney’s appeal.

Denmark has been closely following the 2016 American presidential elections—with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton appearing on the front pages of newspapers as if they were running for office in Denmark. To get to the bottom of this race, Rasmussen decided to embark on yet another cross-country trip. He just arrived in Chicago after biking Route 66 from San Francisco, and joined us in the studio to discuss what he learned.