12 Silly Ways to Predict the Election

Eyebrows, donuts, Chia pets, Halloween masks, and other less-than-scientific indications that Obama will beat Romney.

If you want a fairly good sense of who will prevail in the presidential election, you could check out the numbers at TPM‘s Polltracker or the latest FiveThirtyEight forecast. But if you’re less concerned with stuff like sample sizes, margins of error, or statistical rigor, you might consult any of these less than scientific indicators of who will win the White House.

 


In case you lost track, that’s eight indicators favoring Obama, one favoring Romney, and three with no clear favorite. Take that, Nate Silver.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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