A Little Better Than a Toss Up

Nate Silver’s latest forecast gives Kamala Harris a 56% chance to win the presidential election.

“I’ll grant you that a 56/44 forecast is in kind of a weird, uncomfortable zone. To be clear, the forecast is that Harris will win the Electoral College 56 percent of the time — not that she’ll beat Trump by 12 points — in other words that the race is basically a toss-up. There is a strong likelihood that this will be a close election right up through Election Day.”

“Still, 56 percent is meaningfully different from 50 percent. Even a somewhat nitty (i.e. risk-averse) poker player would usually take an all-in spot where they win 56 percent of the time. A baseball team that wins 56 percent of its games goes 91-71, and that’s considered a strong season. So zooming out, you’d probably take this position if you were Kamala Harris.”