Donald Trump is bookies favourite to enter White House after punters correctly called 2020 US election
Tune into our US election special edition of Never Mind The Ballots tomorrow night
DONALD Trump is the bookies favourite to enter the White House – after punters correctly called the 2020 US election.
After a stormy election campaign, Americans will head to the polls on Tuesday.
Sitting at 4/6, Republican candidate Donald Trump is a “firm favourite” to beat his Democrat opponent Kamala Harris.
Our Political Editor Harry Cole will crunch the numbers on a special US election episode of Never Mind the Ballots tomorrow night.
The special episode is in association with the Betfair Exchange, which has correctly predicted 22 of the last 24 major elections.
More than £140million has been wagered on the exchange – with most punters backing Trump.
Nine of the top ten biggest bets have also backed the Republican candidate.
Trump is the favourite in five out of seven swing states and neck-and-neck with Harris in an eighth, Wisconsin.
Betfair’s Sam Rosbottom told The Sun: “Donald Trump’s odds have never been shorter at this point in any of his Presidential campaigns.
“The punters are clear, he is going to win.
“While there has been a slight drift on his odds on the past week he is still the firm favourite at 4/6.
“We have seen positive signs for Kamala Harris in a couple of swing states.
“She is now the favourite to win in Wisconsin and Michigan, but Trump is still odds-on to win Pennsylvania, the Keystone State.
“So far more than £140m has been wagered on the Betfair Exchange US Election winner market.
“The majority of it has been for Donald Trump.”
How do the US presidential elections work?
BY Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
The Democratic and Republican parties nominate their candidates with a series of votes – called state primaries and caucuses – in the run up to the election in November, held every four years.
This gives members the opportunity to choose who they want to lead the party into an election – this year, Donald Trump and following Biden’s resignation, Kamala Harris.
There are also some independent candidates running for president – arguably the most well-known was Robert F Kennedy Jr who pulled out in August and endorsed Trump.
In US elections the winner is not the candidate who gets the most votes across the country.
Instead Trump and Harris will compete to win smaller contests held in each of the 50 states.
Many of the states often vote the same way – but seven of them – Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona – tend to go in either direction.
Each state has a number of electoral college votes – partly based on population sizes – with a total of 538 across the country up for grabs.
The winner is the candidate that gets 270 or more, marking a majority in the electoral college.
All but two of the US’ 50 states – Maine and Nebraska – have a winner-takes-all rule.
Meaning whichever candidate gets the highest number of votes wins all of the state’s electoral college votes.
In 2016 Hillary Clinton won more votes nationally than Donald Trump – but she still lost the election because of electoral college votes.
The candidate who will win this election is the one who secures 270 or more college ballots.
Usually the winner is declared on the night, but it can take days to finalise the result.
In 2020 Joe Biden wasn’t officially announced as the president-elect until November 7.
The new president will be sworn into office in January on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.