Trump’s Re-Election Odds Take Another Hit as Biden Gains Traction, Coronavirus Spreads

• Donald Trump’s odds to win re-election as President of the United States went from -205 on Feb. 28th to -180 today
• The Coronavirus and Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday performance have impacted the race. Is Trump is serious jeopardy?
• All of the odds, picks and trends in the battle for the Oval Office are analyzed in the story below

Donald Trump’s week is not going well. The coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the US economy and Joe Biden, the opponent Trump appears to fear the most in his bid to retain the Presidency, is suddenly looming large in his rear-view mirror.

Both developments are impacting the 2020 election odds. Online sportsbooks were quick to respond to these changing dynamics.

Across the leading sports-betting sites, Trump’s odds to win re-election moved to -180. He’d been at -205 as recently as Feb. 28th. One site has Trump at just -145 to win a second term.

2020 Presidential Election Odds

Odds taken March 4th. 

Trump’s Worst Fears Coming To Fruition

It’s been clear from the outset that the candidate Trump least wants to see at the top of the Democratic ticket is Biden. He got himself impeached in a bid to dig up dirt on the former Vice-President.

Given up for dead after poor showings in the early primaries, Biden stormed to victory in 10 of 14 states during Super Tuesday. Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and now Michael Bloomberg dropped from the race.

All followed up by endorsing Biden. That’s served to fortify the moderate base of the Democratic party behind one candidate. These moves have combined to put the campaign of Bernie Sanders in serious jeopardy.

Those realities are reflected in the changing odds. Biden was a distant +924 across the top sportsbooks on Feb. 28. Today, his average line is down to +164.

Sanders went in the opposite direction. His average odds faded from +305 to +1256.

Democrats are working hard to destroy the name and reputation of Crazy Bernie Sanders, and take the nomination away from him!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020

Trump utilizes Twitter as his weapon of choice to attack opponents. He’s devoted much Twitter time to criticize the Democrats for not rallying behind Sanders.

Obviously, Trump is anxious to go head-to-head with the far left-leading Sanders.

Coronavirus Trump’s Biggest Threat

Historically, the #1 factor that gets an incumbent beaten in a Presidential election is a slumping economy.  The US economy has stayed relatively stable during Trump’s first term. However, the outbreak of the Coronavirus sent the stock market spiraling downward last week.

The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, sought to stem the tide earlier this week by lowering interest rates by 50 basis points to a range between 1% and 1.25%. The move was announced shortly after a meeting of G7 finance ministers over concern that the economic slowdown from the outbreak could launch countries into recession.

….paying higher rates than many others, when we should be paying less. Tough on our exporters and puts the USA at a competitive disadvantage. Must be the other way around. Should ease and cut rate big. Jerome Powell led Federal Reserve has called it wrong from day one. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2020

Trump was applying pressure to the Fed to lower interest rates prior to the decision. However, some financial experts feared that lowering interest rates would create the opposite of the desired effect.

It could be viewed by financial markets as a sign of panic. Even worse, the decision might be looked up as a sign that things are much worse off than the public is being told.

Too Early To Panic

A perfect storm of events has definitely created cause for concern in the Trump camp. However, in reality, the campaign is only beginning.

President Trump: "I think there's no question the establishment, the Democratic establishment, is trying to take it away from Bernie Sanders. No question about that in my mind." pic.twitter.com/Rpr8if09bi

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 3, 2020

Trump can now narrow his focus down to two candidates – Biden and Sanders. The Republicans have proven one thing over the years. They know how to win elections.

If you’re a Trump backer, bet him now. His odds might not get much more favorable before Nov. 3rd.