New York Times polling guru Nate Silver told Stephen Colbert on Monday just what he thinks of political pundits. More than a few commentators have attacked Silver’s FiveThirtyEight election forecast for giving President Obama high odds in the lead-up to Election Day.
“I’m not very pro-pundit, I have to say,” Silver said. “If pundits were on the ballot against, like, I don’t know, Ebola, I might vote Ebola, or third party.”
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called Silver out recently over his election forecast, which currently places the odds of an Obama victory at around 90 percent. The FiveThirtyEight model, Silver said, is “not really that complicated, but people treat it like it’s Galileo or something, something totally heretical.”
Watch the video:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Nate Silver | ||||
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David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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