Pro-Trump influencers, including a member of Congress, are seizing on an election prediction from RealClearPolitics to claim a preemptive victory for Donald Trump in the presidential race.
The prediction uses forecasts in various states to build a possible map — one that, in this case, points to a Trump victory. Other polling is less favorable to Trump. But the RealClearPolitics map carries this headline, “Trump Projected to Retake White House.”
Alethea, a company tracking online threats and misinformation, identified numerous examples of popular accounts on X using the map to “preemptively cast doubt on election results in the event that former President Trump loses the election.”
Among those accounts was the one belonging to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who wrote, “STAY IN LINE! Keep voting! @RCPolitics is projecting our win!”
RealClearPolitics had not, in fact, called the race for Trump.
The prediction uses forecasts in various states to build a possible map — one that, in this case, points to a Trump victory. Other polling is less favorable to Trump. But the RealClearPolitics map carries this headline, “Trump Projected to Retake White House.”
Alethea, a company tracking online threats and misinformation, identified numerous examples of popular accounts on X using the map to “preemptively cast doubt on election results in the event that former President Trump loses the election.”
Among those accounts was the one belonging to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who wrote, “STAY IN LINE! Keep voting! @RCPolitics is projecting our win!”
RealClearPolitics had not, in fact, called the race for Trump.
