Arizona dispute heats, as data guru Nate Silver calls for Fox, AP retraction

OPINION:

Nate Silver, founder of the polling site FiveThirtyEight, and a once-upon-a-time darling of the left, said Arizona never should have been called so early for Democrat Joe Biden, and that both Fox News and The Associated Press ought to retract their decisions.

Yes. And while we’re at it, how about moving Pennsylvania into the win column for President Donald Trump? 

Here’s what Silver said about Arizona on his website, Newsweek reported: “I guess I’d say that Biden will win Arizona if you forced me to pick, but I sure as heck don’t think the state should have been called by anyone, and I think the calls that were previously made should be retracted now.”

The Trump campaign would certainly agree. So, too, the state’s Republican Party chiefs.

First off, a Democratic presidential candidate hasn’t won Arizona since 1996. So there is that. But secondly, ongoing counts don’t justify the state being in Biden’s “W” column. He’s only squeaking out a slim lead — but there are far too many ballots left to count. And these are ballots that “are breaking for President Trump at about 2 to 2.5, and even 3 to 1 in many cases,” said the state’s Republican Party chair, Kelli Ward, in a Fox10 report.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been filed against Maricopa County officials, accusing them of wrongfully telling voters to use Sharpies’ markers on their ballots, which bled through the paper and made the votes unreadable.

Democrats say they made gains in the Arizona with its large Hispanic population and that projections of a Biden win are in line with their own internal polls. But let’s be serious; Trump scored magnificently with Latinos in this election.

More so than pundits, pollsters and members of the media had believed in the lead-up to Election Day.

He over-performed, in other words.

Given all that, isn’t it just the safe and fair move to retract Arizona for Biden at this point?

“Overall, I’d say this [state] is likely Biden,” Silver said. “But I don’t think the state should have been called yet.”

Neither do millions of Trump-supporting voters. Now how about that Pennsylvania?

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.