Harry Reid Says Nate Silver Is ‘Bad Most Of The Time’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. faces reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014, following a closed-door Democratic policy meeting. The Senate seemed ready Tuesday to vote preliminary ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. faces reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014, following a closed-door Democratic policy meeting. The Senate seemed ready Tuesday to vote preliminary approval of a sprawling Democratic bill expanding health, education and other benefits for veterans, but the election-year measure faced conservative opposition and an uncertain fate as Republicans try to make it smaller and find ways to pay for it. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Stats guru Nate Silver is getting flack from all sides, and on Friday he even drew the ire of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, whose polls were close to holy for Democrats during the 2012 election, isn’t right all the time, Reid said in an interview with the Washington Post.

“He gave me a 16 percent chance of being reelected, he gave Heidi Heitkamp an 8 percent chance of being reelected, he gave Jon Tester a [34] percent chance of being reelected,” the Nevada Democrat said. “So all polls are about like Nate Silver’s predictions: good sometimes, bad most of the time.”

Reid’s comments follow a critical memo from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee similarly calling into question Silver’s past work after the stats whiz gave Republicans about a 60 percent chance of winning control of the Senate in November.

Silver responded to his critics on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart Thursday night.

Update: Silver defended himself on Friday afternoon:

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: