13 Simple Predictions for 2026
I have previously tried to make predictions for the new year, but it can be surprisingly hard to evaluate them afterwards because events often happen in messier ways than expected.
Because of this, I thought I’d try something much simpler, picking thirteen current political leaders, and asking simply whether they will still be in power in a year’s time.
I’m not predicting whether they’ll lose an election, resign or get assassinated. It’s simply a question of whether they’ll be in the same post a year from now.
My calls are below. Please leave yours as comments.
| Leader | Where? | Still There | Gone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Turkey | ● | |
| Mette Frederiksen | Denmark | ● | |
| Ulf Kristersson | Sweden | ● | |
| Ursula von der Leyen | European Union | ● | |
| Nicolás Maduro | Venezuela | ● | |
| Eluned Morgan | Wales | ● | |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | Israel | ● | |
| Vladimir Putin | Russia | ● | |
| Pedro Sánchez | Spain | ● | |
| Keir Starmer | United Kingdom | ● | |
| John Swinney | Scotland | ● | |
| Donald Trump | United States | ● | |
| Volodymyr Zelenskyy | Ukraine | ● |
Here are ChatGPT’s predictions:
IN (8): Frederiksen, Starmer, von der Leyen, Zelenskyy, Putin, Sánchez, Maduro, Erdoğan.
OUT (5): Swinney, Trump, Netanyahu, Kristersson, Morgan.
Chat GPT thinks Swinney will be gone? The AI boom really is all hype then