The so-called ‘polling Nostradamus’ was given a dose of reality when left-wing pundit Cenk Uygur became confused about the professor’s wildly incorrect call about Kamala Harris defeating Donald Trump.
Allan Lichtman, who has successfully predicted nine out of ten elections since 1984, seemed to run out of words after the 2024 election, as he realized his prediction was wrong.
Uygur, the founder of the left-wing media network The Young Turks, confronted Lichtman on Piers Morgan’s show on Tuesday.
He specifically took issue with Lichtman blaming “voters” for falling for disinformation before trashing his “13 keys” methods for deciding elections.
‘I have debated with Professor Lichtman before. I told him that his theories about ‘the keys’ were absurd. I was right, he was wrong. I said he would lose his keys,” Uygur said.
Lichtman fought back: ‘No, you weren’t right and I wasn’t wrong. That’s a cheap attempt and I won’t stand for it! You shouldn’t be taking cheap shots at me.’
Uygur pointed to the scoreboard and asked, “Who won?” You live in a total world of denial!’
The polling expert claimed to have read the comments from Uygur’s followers and believed they all agreed with Lichtman.
Left-wing pundit Cenk Uygur was furious with so-called ‘poll Nostradamus’ Allan Lichtman for his incorrect call that Kamala Harris would beat Donald Trump
Lichtman, who has successfully predicted nine out of 10 elections since 1984, seemed at a loss for words after the 2024 election when he realized his prediction was wrong.
“I read the comments from your own followers and they all trashed you!” Lichtman replied. “Every one of them and supports me.”
‘That’s right! You know nothing. You know nothing. You’re just so deluded,” Uygur shot back.
Lichtman defended his credentials as a “professor for 51 years” who had published 13 books.
Uygur insulted him again: ‘You are wrong! You were ridiculously, stupidly wrong.”
After they argued some more, Uygur went for a takedown, claiming Lichtman needed “a big glass of silencing fluid.”
“Hey Allan, shhh! Hey Allan, you deserve a tall glass of hush-hush juice, so can you just shut up and let someone who knows what he or she is doing talk about it?”
An enraged Lichtman shot back, “I’m not going to sit here and stand for personal attacks, for blasphemy against me. You don’t have to do that.’
Uygur’s response: ‘Blasphemy against you?! Who the hell are you? Are you Jesus Christ? You loser!’
‘I have debated with Professor Lichtman before. I told him that his theories about ‘the keys’ were absurd. I was right, he was wrong. I said he would lose his keys,” Uygur said
Uygur, the founder of the left-wing media network The Young Turks, confronted Lichtman on Piers Morgan’s show on Tuesday
Lichtman’s thirteen keys include such things as the incumbent, the charisma of the incumbent president, the charisma of the challenger, foreign policy failure, and foreign policy success.
The prognosticator was confident that Kamala Harris would win, first by a landslide and then by a trickle.
But as Trump stormed to victory, Lichtman’s miscalculation was inevitable.
“I’m not doing interviews, I’m done,” he said when the election results came in.
“Good thing I have nothing to do tomorrow,” continued the 77-year-old, who predicted a Trump victory in 2016.
He then went full throttle against Trump, claiming the president would not serve his second term.
‘Do you know what happens if Trump wins? He will not serve a full term, but will hand it over to J.D. Vance,” he said, citing Trump’s advanced age.
His son, Sam, also seemed shocked by the results, which played out in real time.
Uygur and the other guests seemed stunned by Lichtman’s denial
Lichtman thanked his fans for tuning in before signing off for the evening.
‘I’m encouraged by all the kind emails I’ve received, many people saying we should keep doing this show.
“Tomorrow I’m going to sleep all day,” he immediately added.
At several points it appeared as if the veteran professor was grimacing and cradling his face as he followed the results on the screen.
Just last month, Lichtman came out claiming that Harris had accomplished what he believed in his critical goals for victory. He told CTV News how his made-up statistics are “based on a fundamental understanding of how American presidential elections really work.
The predictions raised eyebrows – because they came from a man who has accurately predicted almost every US presidential election since 1984.
Yet Lichtman has been wrong in the past – albeit only once, in 2000, when he incorrectly predicted a win for Al Gore.
In that case, part of the prediction came true, in that Gore got the popular vote.
Technically, he didn’t hold himself to the same standard in 2016, when he predicted Donald Trump would win, though he failed to note that Trump lost the popular vote.
This time, however, that was far from the case.
The ease with which Trump achieved victory confused Lichtman.
‘What? That’s not possible,” he exclaimed. As projections showed, Trump won the Hispanic vote in all-important Pennsylvania.
“The world is turned upside down, that’s all I can say,” Lichtman added at another point – as more states turned red.
Massaging his temples deeply as he said there had been “nothing positive for Harris yet,” he went on to do a full facepalm when it became clear that all seven states heralded as keys to victory had gone to Trump . .
At that point, the visibly defeated academic thanked audience members for tuning in, including those who mockingly donated to the fading livestream.
He further admitted that his so-called ‘Keys (to victory) were wrong’ – pointing to his 13 keys method to victory of which he said Harris had met eight of them.
“Many people believe that the future of the country is at stake here, and that America’s democracy could be a thing of the past,” Lichtman concluded, adding, “I don’t think that’s an illegitimate fear.”
“I’m so concerned about the future of our elections, you know… democracy is precious, but like all precious things it can be destroyed,” he added.