The Economist launches US House of Representatives mid-term elections model

LONDON, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today The Economist launched its first real-time mid-term model, which uses statistical forecasting to predict how many seats in the House of Representatives each party is likely to win in this year's US mid-term elections.

View the model here: http://economist.com/midterms

Applying cutting-edge machine-learning techniques to political science, the model combines information from polling, past elections, special elections, fundraising, ideology and factors like the economy and incumbency.  It has been trained on every election cycle since 1942 and nearly 6,500 historical district races.  The model will conduct 4.35 million simulated elections every day until the vote, live-updating to incorporate up-to-the-minute data.

The Economist's mid-term model currently predicts that Democrats have a two in three (or 65%) chance of taking the House, and holding an average of 222 seats, or four more than is needed for a majority.  It shows that there is a 95% chance that the Democrats will hold between 206 and 241 seats.

The Economist's data team plans to launch a similar model to forecast Senate results later in the year once primaries are complete and more polls become available.

Find out more about The Economist's mid-term model here:  https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/05/26/we-think-the-democrats-will-take-the-house

To find out more or to interview data editor Dan Rosenheck, please contact:

(UK) [email protected] or +44 (0)7715621079
(US) [email protected] or +1 212 541 0583

About The Economist (www.economist.com)
With a growing global circulation and a reputation for insightful analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognised and well-read current affairs publications. The paper covers politics, business, science and technology, and books and arts, concluding each week with the obituary. In addition to the web-only content such as blogs, debates and audio/video programmes available at economist.com,  The Economist is available to download for reading on Android, Blackberry PlayBook, iPhone or iPad devices. The Economist Espresso, our daily briefing smartphone app, is also available for download via iTunes App Store or Google Play. A recipient of many editorial and marketing awards, The Economist was recently named the most trusted news source in the 2017 Trusting News Project Report.

SOURCE The Economist