Silver founded the data-focused news site FiveThirtyEight in 2008,  and the site garnered national attention after successfully predicting the outcomes in 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Previously, he worked in sports journalism and in 2019 was named one of Time's “100 Most Influential People.” He is the author of "The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – but Some Don't."