On the eve of California’s primary voting, liberal pollster Nate Silver slammed the Golden State’s vote-counting procedures on Monday and said waiting weeks for an election result should not be tolerated in the United States.
The founder of the polling website FiveThirtyEight posted several messages to X late Monday night comparing California to a Third World nation for dragging out the electoral process.
“The fact that California elections often can’t be resolved for weeks is kind of insane and not common in other electoral systems around the world,” Silver wrote, later calling the incompetence an example of “learned helplessness.”
The fact that California elections often can’t be resolved for weeks is kind of insane and not common in other electoral systems around the world.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 2, 2026
Silver wrote that it shouldn’t take “several weeks” to know who the victor is, adding that this kind of system “should be more stigmatized.”
The fact that it’s tolerated is bad too a textbook example of learned helplessness.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 2, 2026
Will Republicans win the California governor’s race in November?
He also compared California to a “failed state” for not doing anything to improve the situation.
California voters are going to the polls June 2 for the state’s “jungle primary,” meaning the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November regardless of party affiliation.
After the Nov. 5, 2024, presidential election, California was still counting votes into December.
That didn’t matter so much because the Democratic state was never seriously in doubt in the presidential election, but that delay could matter more in the most attention-getting races of this year’s primary: The governor’s race and the race for Los Angeles mayor.
The Los Angeles race is officially nonpartisan. Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, is trying to fight off challenges from former reality TV star Spencer Pratt and City Council member Nithya Raman.
In the governor’s race, Republican candidate Steve Hilton has surged in recent polls, giving Republicans a chance to compete.
Hilton, along with Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, have gained support due to California’s problems with high housing costs, illegal immigration, homelessness, drugs, heavy tax burdens, the Los Angeles wildfire response, and poor fiscal management.
Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra, a former California attorney general and secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration, is leading the field with 28 percent, according to a recent poll from Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics.
Second place still remains up for grabs however. Democrat Tom Steyer polled at 22 percent but was virtually tied with Hilton, who had 21 percent.
Bianco garnered 12 percent, while other candidates polled in the single digits.
The survey, conducted May 27 and 28, sampled 1,000 likely voters. It had a margin of error of 3 percent.
Hilton posted a video to X on Saturday asking Bianco to drop out of the race so he could consolidate Republican support. Despite the plea, Bianco has opted to stay in.
“If we don’t unite, then we could have Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra in the general election,” Hilton said. “That is a disaster for California, it means no change. It’s a disaster for everyone who is running as a Republican up and down the ballot. It’s a disaster for voter ID.”
Unless we unite we’ll get an all-Dem general election: Becerra vs Steyer. No change for California, disaster for every Republican running this year, Voter ID…
ONE MAN can stop the Doomsday Scenario!
Chad, the best time to drop out was two weeks ago. The second best is now… pic.twitter.com/oAra5wAXqA
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) May 31, 2026
In a news release, Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling said, “Xavier Becerra maintains frontrunner status in the final Emerson poll ahead of Tuesday’s primary, while Tom Steyer and Steve Hilton both have paths to advance to the November general election.”
He added, “If Chad Bianco’s support erodes by Election Day, Hilton is positioned to benefit. Steyer’s path to the runoff depends on mobilizing younger voters while limiting further gains by Becerra, whose growing coalition could siphon support from Steyer.”
Becerra’s support has increased by 9 percentage points since the last Emerson poll in mid-May, Steyer has gained 5 points, Hilton went up by 4, and Bianco’s ticked up by 1 percent.
Support for Democratic candidates Katie Porter and Matt Mahan dropped by 5 and 3 percentage points, respectively.
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