Political consultant points out 'Nate Silver is paid by Peter Thiel' after 538 projects Trump victory
On Sunday, September 8, polling expert and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver updated his presidential election forecast and gave GOP nominee Donald Trump a 63.8 percent chance of winning the Electoral College in November and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris only a 36 percent chance.
But veteran conservative consultant Stuart Stevens — a Never Trumper conservative who is supporting Harris — is critical of Silver's forecast, arguing that there is a connection between Silver's FiveThirtyEight and billionaire Trump supporter Peter Thiel.
In a September 10 post on X, formerly Twitter, Stevens wrote, "Polymarket is Peter Thiel's creation. @NateSilver538 is being paid by Peter Thiel."
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In May, Forbes reported that "controversial billionaire political donor Peter Thiel and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin" had "raised about $70 million in funding for Polymarket."
According to Axios' Sara Fischer, the predictions market platform Polymarket hired Silver as an adviser in July.
Stevens is a veteran of conservative politics and has worked with many well-known Republicans over the years, including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah). But he is a scathing critic of Trump who has been heavily involved in The Lincoln Project, a conservative anti-Trump group that is also supporting Harris.
Many national and battleground state polls have been showing a very close presidential race, with Harris slightly ahead in some polls and Trump slightly ahead in others. Stevens, however, believes Harris will enjoy a major surge in the weeks before the election that will recall Ronald Reagan's surge in the 1980 race.
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