Data firm predicts election 'chaos' as Trump seems to win in a landslide before losing as more votes are counted

President Trump votes.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A data firm is bolstering the idea that Election Night is going to be a nightmare this year.

Hawkfish, the political data agency funded largely by Michael Bloomberg and contracting with Democratic candidates in the 2020 election, is predicting "chaos in America" once this year's presidential votes are in, Axios reports. "We believe that on Election Night, we are going to see Donald Trump in a stronger position than the reality actually is," Hawkfish CEO Josh Mendelsohn said, calling the phenomenon a "red mirage."

That's presumably because Trump will win — "potentially in a landslide" — Election Day's more quickly tallied in-person votes, "but lose a week later" as absentee ballots are counted, Axios describes. Trump is already stoking mistrust surrounding absentee and mail-in ballots, adding fuel to this potentially chaotic fire.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Mendelsohn is pretty vague in the above clip, but he'll reveal more in Monday night's Axios on HBO episode airing at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.