Misleading Numbers in Elections and Investing with Harry Enten
Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger
Audacy
4.6 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2017
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Young. Check. Ivy League educated. Check. Obsessed with statistics. Check. Obsessed with politics. Check. A rising star in the media world. Check. Yep, that pretty much describes this week’s “Better Off” podcast guest. As promised, we tackle uncomfortable, and even controversial, money and investing issues, but on this episode, we are wading into the choppy waters of politics, with Harry Enten, senior political writer and analyst for FiveThirtyEight. If you’re not familiar with the site, it’s the brainchild of statistician guru Nate Silver who gained recognition in 2008 after correctly predicting the outcomes in 49 of the 50 states in the presidential election. With the presidential inauguration upon us, we thought it made sense to talk to someone about the recent race, more specifically the numbers behind it, and how so many people got it wrong. What were the warning signs that so many missed? What did Hillary do wrong? Was it all about the economy or were there other factors? Did the third party candidates have an impact? Harry breaks down the election/forecasting/statistical terminology we’ve been bombarded with over the past year or so. What is probability and what does it mean? How about margin of error? What about sample errors? Are polls perfect or are they just a tool? As you’ll hear, politics was the main theme, but we also talked about Harry’s background and his love of sports and weather. That’s right, weather. This guy loves a good snowstorm. So much so that it played a role in picking a college. I think you’ll really enjoy the interview. It was very fun and informative, definitely one of my personal favorites. Harry Enten is a name you will be hearing more and more of in 2017. We just hope he remembers us little people. “Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment. And one more thing...ratings and reviews matter a lot in the podcasting world. So if you have a free minute it'd mean a lot if you can rate me in iTunes. Thank you! "Better Off" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Jill Schlesinger, and this is the Better Off Podcast. On today's episode, |
| 0:08.0 | it's Inauguration Weekend, Million Woman March, and so are you wondering what just happened in that election? |
| 0:14.8 | We've got 538's Harry Enten, he's going to make sense of the numbers and tell us how statistics |
| 0:20.4 | can lead us astray. |
| 0:21.6 | Things weren't developing in the ways that we were used to seeing. |
| 0:25.3 | And the way that they were developing was in the halves and the have-nots or the people who perhaps |
| 0:29.6 | had but perhaps feared being a have-not. And I think that left us open to not recognizing how strong the movement would be for a Bernie Sanders |
| 0:38.0 | or how strong the movement would be for a Donald Trump, people who were talking to these financial concerns that a lot of voters had. |
| 0:44.0 | All that and more on the latest episode of the Better Off Podcast. |
| 0:50.0 | Welcome to the inauguration edition of the Better Off Podcast. |
| 0:54.6 | We're sponsored by Betterman, the smarter way to invest your money. |
| 0:58.6 | I'm your host, Jill Schlesinger. |
| 1:01.0 | Okay, Better Off, this is the show where we provide unconventional and entertaining |
| 1:06.1 | insights on your money and your life and you know it is all about inauguration. |
| 1:11.8 | I decided to geek out a little bit and start to think all about the |
| 1:13.0 | the o'clock out a little bit and start to think about the |
| 1:16.3 | Obama economic legacy. I just want to point out a few things. I kind of look at |
| 1:21.8 | this as two separate types of |
| 1:24.0 | gradings. One is around just how horrible everything was when he came into |
| 1:30.0 | office in January 2009 and and so what I look at that is sort of the government |
| 1:35.0 | response to how horrible things were. |
| 1:36.8 | So you had bailouts, you had regulatory reform, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audacy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Audacy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

