On today’s On This Day from TEST Huddle; the first computer prediction of an election.
1952 – The First Computer Prediction of an Election
On this day in 1952, CBS News uses a UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I) computer to predict the outcome of the 1952 presidential election after analysing only five percent of the tallied votes. The election race is between Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democrat Adlai Stevenson. The computer projects a victory for Eisenhower. CBS News journalists Charles Collingwood and Walter Cronkite find the result are sceptical of the result as opinion polls have consistently predicted a landslide victory for Stevenson. They decide to postpone announcing the UNIVAC results until it’s clear to everyone that Eisenhower will win. News of the prediction will vault the UNIVAC to national fame.
