He followed his undergraduate degree with graduate study at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs for one year.

[7] Prior to his time as a political analyst, Sabato worked for nine years with Virginia Democratic Party politician Henry Howell.

Other Sabato books include The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency, Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election, and Get in the Booth!

He has written textbooks used by high school and college American government classes,[citation needed] and has been a frequent guest analyst on cable news outlets[which?]

The site contains analysis of an array of political races in the United States, including presidential elections, Senate, House, and gubernatorial contests.

Prior to the 2002 midterm elections, where the Republican Party saw gains in both branches of Congress, Sabato's Crystal Ball website accurately predicted the outcome in 433 of the 435 contests for the House of Representatives and 32 of 34 Senate races.

[15] In 2006, Sabato was named the most accurate source of election predictions by MSNBC, CNBC, and Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

[15] In July 2008, Crystal Ball correctly projected that Barack Obama would win the presidency in a near-landslide.

Biden ended up winning 306 to Trump's 232, with North Carolina (15 electoral votes) being Crystal Ball's only incorrectly predicted state.

Crystal Ball predicted Kamala Harris would defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, 276–262 in the Electoral College.

In June 2009, it was revealed that Sabato's Center for Politics had been the recipient of over $7 million in earmarked money from Congressman Virgil Goode, whom Sabato predicted would win re-election in 2008, despite declining poll numbers; Goode ultimately lost the race by fewer than 800 votes out of about 316,000 votes cast.

[25] Political blogger Greg Sargent suggested that Sabato should have revealed his Center's financial connection to Goode or recused himself from making predictions about the race.

[27] In July 2021, the Republican Party of Virginia made headlines for demanding Sabato, as Director of the non-partisan Center of American Politics at the Public University, be investigated by the University of Virginia for his "bitter partisanship" in the form of anti-Trump tweets, stating "in order to have faith in our institutions, it is essential that Virginians hold accountable those public employees and officials who violate institutional values, codes of conduct, and other guidelines of professional behavior.