Photo: Getty Images
Famed polling expert Nate Silver said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is currently the most likely Democrat to win the 2028 presidential nomination should she decide to run
Silver appeared opposite former FiveThirtyEight podcast host Galen Druke during a '2028 Democratic primary draft' discussion on his Silver Bulletin Substack and was surprised to see that Druke, whom he claimed won the first pick via rock-paper-scissors, took Ocasio-Cortez himself.
“F**k you” Silver said to Druke. “That was going to be my f**king first pick!”
Druke referenced a recent Yale University poll, which said Ocasio-Cortez had one of the highest net favorability ratings among Democrats at +60 points, though it also placed her second in a hypothetical Democratic primary behind former Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 presidential nominee.
“I think there’s a lot of points in her favor at this very moment,” Druke said. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has broad appeal across the Democratic Party.”
“I think equally important is the fact that she has very fervent support," he added. "I think a lot of people are gonna run in 2028 and it’s going to be a contest for attention and getting those sort of people who might be in your boat to turn out and stay with you through thick and thin.”
Silver responded with, "I agree with everything," but said it wasn't confirmed whether Ocasio-Cortez was "sure to run," what will happen in the interim or whether the party had concerns regarding her electability. Druke, however, was far more confident that the congresswoman was planning a 2028 campaign given her recent 'Fighting Oligarchy Tour' alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“She has learned a lot as a politician since those early days opposing Amazon and especially those early days of the ‘Abolish ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]’ stuff that was very unpopular,” he added. “Ultimately. If you listen to her message today, it’s all about the economy.”
Silver gained notoriety for successfully predicting 49 of 50 states in the 2008 presidential election, as well as former President Barack Obama's re-election win in 2012 and Biden's win in the 2020 election. The pollster was, however, criticized for giving Hillary Clinton a 71.4% chance of winning over President Donald Trump after the former president 304 electoral college votes to win the election.
"I think people shouldn’t have been so surprised," Silver told the Harvard Gazette in 2017. "Clinton was the favorite, but the polls showed, in our view, particularly at the end, a highly competitive race in the Electoral College. We had him with a 30 percent chance, and that’s a pretty likely occurrence. Why did people think it was much less than that? I think there are a few things."