Joe Biden is the favorite to win the 2020 U.S. presidential election for the first time, an oddsmaker says.
As McClatchy reported, the former vice president surpassed President Donald Trump in betting odds at the online site Bookies.com. Trump had been at -114 odds last week — meaning that people betting on Trump to win needed to lay down $114 to win $100 — but over the course of the week fell to +105 odds. Biden now stands at -110 odds to win the election, the outfit showed.
While Biden has been leading Trump in both national and statewide polls for much of the campaign, Trump has remained a favorite in betting odds.
The site noted that Trump’s handling of the nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis was the main reason behind the drop.
“It seems Trump’s words and actions, or lack thereof, in dealing with nationwide protests has played the biggest part,” Bookies.com said in a press release, noting that Biden had been on the upswing for weeks.
The surge in standing among betting odds comes as Biden wrapped up the Democratic primary, making him the party’s candidate pending the delegates putting the official stamp on it later this summer at the Democratic National Convention.
Biden had become the presumptive nominee when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign in April, but the former vice president still needed to reach 1,991 pledged delegates in order to seal the nomination. Biden reportedly reached that mark with the most recent Democratic contests.
Despite the effects of the coronavirus keeping Biden off the campaign trail, he has been active in pressing Trump on a number of issues, including his handling of protests. While Trump threatened to send the U.S. military to crack down on violent protesters and posed by a church near the White House after police had used force to clear out peaceful protesters, Biden has expressed more sympathy toward the cause and the Black Lives Matter movement, appearing at a protest in Delaware and speaking by phone with Floyd’s family.
In a post on Medium , Biden said it was an “honor” to be able to compete for the Democratic nomination with such a talented field and said he was proud to be leading a united party. He also pledged to continue trying to bring the Democratic Party together in the coming months.
“I am going to spend every day between now and November 3rd fighting to earn the votes of Americans all across this great country so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation, and make sure that as we rebuild our economy, everyone comes along,” Biden wrote.
