2020 Presidential Betting Odds Display Massive Shift Towards A Joe Biden Victory Against Donald Trump

After unrest following both the coronavirus pandemic and protests against police brutality across the United States, odds makers have shifted their 2020 presidential projections towards former Vice President Joe Biden. This marks a massive change from previous projections throughout the spring, which had consistently predicted that President Donald Trump would win his reelection campaign.

In fact, according to CNBC, betting markets were placing odds on a Trump victory as recently as last week, despite reports showing that Biden had been outperforming the president in a number of polls. As was previously reported by The Inquisitr, one recent survey showed Biden with a double-digit lead over Trump.

Now, it appears that the betting odds are beginning to mirror the polls, with the odds of a Biden victory currently standing at 50 percent versus Trump’s 43 percent on Smarkets and 53 percent for Biden versus 46 percent for Trump on Predict It.

Though Biden had overtaken Trump in the betting markets for a short period in March, this new shift marks a massive change in how punters are viewing the 2020 presidential election.

“Nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and Trump’s response have seemingly had wide-reaching consequences for the 2020 election,” Patrick Flynn, a political analyst at Smarkets, said in a statement on the change.

But it has not just been bets on the presidency that have seen a major change in recent days. Markets concerning Biden’s vice presidential pick have also seen fluctuations. For example, though Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar was once believed to have a 29 percent shot of winning the VP spot, her odds have dropped to just 5 percent.

In contrast, African-American politicians — specifically California Senator Kamala Harris and Florida Representative Val Demings — have surged to the leading spots.

Though some believe that betting markets have a strong track record of success in predicting election winners, experts have cautioned that they tend to do no better — and sometimes do worse — than traditional polling.

“Despite the well-established difficulty of polling of the U.S. electorate, primary polls apparently deliver more information than bettors. The traders might wish to pay more attention to polls in future cycle. After all, it’s their money on the line,” concluded Ohio State University Associate Professor of Political Science Thomas Wood (via The Washington Post).

Moreover, many political pundits, such as CNN’s Van Jones, have claimed that the race is still too difficult to call. Jones specifically cited the increasing polarization between conservatives and liberals, adding that it “makes [the election] very, very hard to predict,” per The Inquisitr.