Nate Silver: ’50/50′ forecast means ‘people should be making their contingency plans’

Pollster Nate Silver said that a 50/50 forecast for the presidential election means that people should start planning for the possibility that former President Trump takes back the White House in November.

Silver’s election forecast and model showed Vice President Harris beating Trump for the first time since Aug. 28. Harris, as of Saturday, leads Trump, 49 percent to 46.3 percent.

“One potential advantage of having a forecast that says … it’s 50/50, is that people should be making their contingency plans, like, right away. It doesn’t mean you need [to stockpile] ammo and peanut butter, but it means, you know: What’s your strategy to protect American institutions in the event of a Trump second term? Or, in 2028 [or] 2032, a Trump-like Republican who maybe is more effective than Trump?” Silver told The Guardian on Saturday.

“If I were a liberal donor, for example, I would want to begin funding now … to protect institutions in that eventuality, instead of giving another $100,000 to Kamala Harris, who has more money than she needs,” Silver added.

The Guardian also reported that Silver “fears a Trump win,” but that he also warned against labeling a second Trump term as a threat to democracy as a political strategy.

“The notion of basically holding voters hostage in that sense is very unappealing,” Silver said. “Biden was like: ‘OK, sure, I may be running for president until I’m 86 and can barely form a complete sentence, but if you don’t vote for me, the country gets it.'”

Silver then applauded Harris’s “joyfulness,” calling her a “very talented woman.”

Silver did, however, question whether Harris has kept too many Biden staffers who had “thought it was a good idea to keep running [him].” He added that he guessed she didn’t have a choice.