Is it 2020 or 2016? You could be forgiven for confusing the year if you had watched the August 6, 2020 Steve Kornacki, the MSNBC political correspondent, project his presidential electoral map. Why? Because it is an almost carbon copy of his August 10, 2016 electoral map. All that has changed is the name of the opponent that Donald Trump is facing.
As you can see in the following sequences of 2016 and 2020 projections with almost identical outcomes, Kornacki's mannerisms and giddy vocal intonations in both presentations are also identical. And was he wearing the same pair of pants both years? Only his laundry service knows for sure.
You would think that after the 2016 election results came in that poor Kornacki would have even a few moments of self-reflection or perhaps humility for making such laughably wrong predictions? But no, Kornacki has provided a repeat performance almost exactly four years later. Apparently he has not learned that August polling is notorious for being horribly wrong. Instead you see him again plowing ahead with a repeat 2016 performance without even pausing to wonder if maybe August is not a good month to ooze overconfidence on the final election results as if it were already set in stone.
Keep that red and blue state projection map handy, Steve. You'll need it again in August 2024.
