Rory Stewart is facing a backlash online after his unequivocal Kamala Harris prediction proved painfully wrong.
Despite predicting an overwhelming Harris victory, Donald Trump was elected the 47th American president on Wednesday (6 October) following an campaign characterised by division and unease.
Stewart, who presents The Rest is Politics podcast with former New Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, had shared his detailed and lofty prophesy explaining why Harris would sweep to victory.
Initially responding to a clip of Daily Mail journalist Andrew Neil saying that the election would be a “dead heat”, Stewart was adamant that he was wrong.
“Journalists would like the US race to seem as close as possible - it suits their appetite for suspense and Andrew Neil’s desire to prod the establishment,” he wrote in a post on Sunday (3 November).
”This won’t be a close race decided by a ‘couple of thousand votes’,” he continued. “He is wrong. And Kamala Harris will win.”
Expanding on the reasons behind the prediction, he listed in a series of bullet points: “Biden’s government’s been solid, Trump’s lost ground since 2016, the young Black male votes which Trump needs didn’t turn out in 2016, 2018, 2020, or 2022, young women like Kamala and vote.”
He added, “The polls are ‘herding’ at 50:50 to protect themselves after past misses - ignore”.
When challenged that he could be proven wrong, Stewart fearlessly replied, “Let’s see”.
Social media users were sceptical as they wrote, “Folk should come back and revisit this in a couple of days. I expect like most of Rory’s political insights, he’s wrong again.”
Stewart quipped, “Let’s see, indeed.”
Coming back to the posts after results trickled in, one person wrote: “Hardly the greatest villain of the night, but Rory Stewart is proof of how far you can get by being confident and having a posh British accent.”
Others called the political analyst “clueless” and accused him of “myopia”.
Meanwhile, Andrew Neil responded “Evening Rory...” as a Trump victory looked likely in the early hours of the morning.
“Yup, you were right and I was wrong.” replied Stewart.
In a separate post to his followers on Wednesday morning as election results were announced, he admitted, “For the record - I was completely wrong about Kamala Harris.”
He added, “It is heartbreaking that Trump is now the President.”
In a live show on the US election for The Rest Is Politics on Wednesday morning (6 November), Stewart remained confused by the outcome as he said, “The economy was doing reasonably okay in terms of GDP per capita. There were no major foreign policy catastrophes.”
One person responded, “I want to live on his planet. Sounds nice.”
