With days remaining until all ballots are cast in the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in a dead heat in national polls. Harris’ position improved following Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend, where comedian Kill Tony took a few shots at Puerto Rico.
When asked yesterday about the Puerto Rico joke, President Biden shot straight from the hip.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters…”
President Joe Biden
The President later clarified his statement on Twitter, but the damage has already been done. The gaffe echoes Hillary Clinton’s “deplorable” comment from 2016 and has extinguished any momentum Harris had built heading into election day.
When we say momentum, we mean the slightest of changes – between five and ten points at online sportsbooks.
Trump is well ahead in the betting odds and has been for weeks. The poll numbers may have shown some signs of hope for Harris, but online sportsbooks don’t share that optimism.
Gamblers will have to wager the better part of $2 to net a dollar in gains by betting on Trump to become the next President.
Anyone risking money on Harris to win can nearly double their money if she wins the White House. At some books, a $1 wager can earn as much as $1.70 on a Harris win.
Despite Harris’ underdog status, there are a few indicators of success for the Democratic Party.
The Washington Commanders
Between 1940 and 2000, the winner of the final Washington Commanders home game before election day correctly predicted election winners. If Washington wins, so too would the incumbent party. If DC loses, the incumbent party loses.
This was formerly known as the Redskins rule and began to miss on its projects in the new millennium. However, there have been revised Redskin Rules that still suggest that the Commanders’ last-second hail-mary victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 8 signals a Harris victory.
Some Experts Still Stand By Harris
Allan Lichtman has correctly predicted nine out of the last ten presidential elections dating back to 1984. He recently restated his projection of a Harris win on November 5th, regardless of the latest polls and betting odds.
Lichtman uses 13 parameters to decide winners, and Harris still has the edge with less than a week to go. The only election that Lichtman got wrong was in 2000 when he selected Al Gore as the winner, and there are still lingering arguments regarding those results.