Polling analyst Nate Silver said Tuesday it's time to take Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang seriously.

"Andrew Yang has crossed the threshold where we consider him a major candidate," Silver said in a tweet linking to a story on his site titled, "How Andrew Yang Could Win The 2020 Democratic Primary." Silver founded the polling aggregation site FiveThirtyEight.

Yang, who announced his candidacy over a year ago in the New York Times , has largely remained under the radar until his appearance on comedian Joe Rogan’s show last month. Since his appearance, Yang has grown an online following that calls itself the Yang Gang and has helped him reach the Democratic National Committee’s requirements to reach the first debate in June.

Silver's endorsement of Yang’s campaign as a major 2020 player is another big step for Yang, as FiveThirtyEight is considered one of the top polling aggregation companies in the world. In 2016, FiveThirtyEight gave Donald Trump the highest percentage chance of winning the presidency of any polling model tracked by the the New York Times , even as many news outlets attacked Silver for overestimating Trump’s chances.