Presidential Odds For Swing States: 5 Months Later

• Presidential Election odds for major swing state winners have been updated on sportsbooks with less than two months left to go in the race.
• Donald Trump is favored to win the electoral college vote in Florida (-125) and Ohio (-210) while Joe Biden is favored to take Pennsylvania (-190).
• Florida is the only major swing state to have a big shift in odds for the candidates since April and there could be multiple reasons the lines have shifted for this state but stayed the same for others.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The 2020 Presidential Election is less than two months away and many may be wondering if the odds for the winner in swings states have shifted throughout this year.

2020 has been a historical and unprecedented year with many issues and situations facing this country as the main driving forces of who will be named POTUS in November.

Though many things are different this year, one thing that has remained the same is the importance of swing states on the outcome of the election due to the number of delegates for the electoral vote the states are given.

In April major swing states electoral college winner odds were posted with seven months left before the election. With all that has happened since then, bettors can see if these five months have shifted things any.

Florida, which normally plays a big role in the election, favored President Donald Trump to win with odds of -180 and former Vice President Joe Biden had +135 odds in April.

Currently, Trump and the Republican party are only slightly favored in Florida with odds of -125 in comparison to Biden’s odds of -105.

This is a big jump in the odds for Biden and it could be many various reasons that caused legal sportsbooks to have to shift these lines.

Since April the coronavirus pandemic, which has been cited as the number one concern amongst voters, has continued to inflict the country, and many politicians, journalists, and commentators have pointed to a failure of the President’s response.

Just this month, the President has faced backlash for the recorded tapes that were released by journalist Bob Woodward of Trump admitting to “downplaying” the virus to the public at the beginning of the year.

Though this could have caused the change in confidence in the President in Florida, there are other swing states that have not seen any jumps in odds throughout the year.

In Pennsylvania, which according to FiveThirtyEight is likely to give the decisive vote in Electoral College votes, Joe Biden has been favored since April as the winner with -200 and is still favored at -190. Donald Trump is the underdog in the state with +145 odds from his +150 odds earlier in the year.

With the rise of social justice movements around the country and the response to it made by the President, his support within minority communities could be suffering. Though Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton not winning a larger margin of the Black vote is what him helped win the state.

The odds for Ohio have also not shifted too much over the months. For this swing state, Donald Trump and the Republican party were favored with -200 odds in April and currently have odds of -210. Biden has +155 odds now from his +150 before.

Joe Biden seems to be taking the approach of staying out of the public eye regularly during these months of the Presidential race. With him not saying much to the public, it would be very hard to shift voters’ opinions on him which is probably why these lines have not changed much.

As of now, Joe Biden has the shortest odds for the 2020 Presidential Election with -115 and Donald Trump has the odds of -105.

Once the two candidates are able to debate one another, the odds in swing states as well as the overall winner of the presidency are likely to shift harder than they have in the past five months.

News tags: 2020 Presidential Election | Donald Trump | Florida | Hillary Clinton | Joe Biden | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Swing States