Two leading bookmakers have given odds on the Republican Party winning control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives during Tuesday’s elections.
Star Sports is offering odds of 6/4 (40 percent) on the GOP securing the presidency and both chambers of Congress, against 7/1 (12.5 percent) on the Democrats achieving a clean sweep. Separately, Betfair has odds of 6/5 (45 percent) on a Republican clean sweep, compared to 6/1 (14 percent) for the Democrats.
Currently, Democrats control not only the presidency but the Senate, where 51 senators are in some way affiliated with the party versus 49 Republicans. However, they lost hold of the House at the 2022 midterm elections, with the GOP currently possessing 220 seats against 212 for the Democrats. If Donald Trump does win the presidential election, having a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress would significantly enhance his power, making it substantially easier to turn policy proposals into law.
Speaking to Newsweek, Star Sports political betting analyst William Kedjanyi said: “Republicans could have more to celebrate next week, with the prospect of seizing control of the Senate, as well as maintaining their majority in the House of Representatives.
“We price a GOP clean sweep at 6/4, with the Democrats an unlikely 7/1 to complete a federal government trifecta.”
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Betfair spokesperson Sam Rosbottom agreed Republicans have a significantly better chance of pulling off a clean sweep than the Democrats.
Addressing Newsweek, he said: “The Republicans are eyeing a big win in the upcoming election, hoping that Donald Trump sweeps to the presidency once more. He is currently at odds of 8/13 of winning, giving him a 62 percent chance of winning.
“But there are also critical down-ballot races taking place next week, and Republicans are hoping to cement their majority in the House of Representatives, as well as break the slim majority that the Democrats have in the Senate.
“We’ve crunched the numbers, and give the Republicans 6/5 odds of winning the Presidency as well as both chambers in Congress. This gives them a 45 percent chance of doing so—much better odds than their Democratic rivals.”
Newsweek contacted Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign and the Republican Party for comment via email on Friday.
On Friday, bookmakers Bet365 and PaddyPower both gave Trump odds of 4/7 (63.6 percent) on winning the presidency on November 5, down from their October 21 odds of 1/2 (66.7 percent).
In the Senate, Republicans are widely expected to gain the West Virginia seat currently occupied by independent Joe Manchin, a former Democrat who is not seeking re-election. However, Democrats are pouring resources into Texas where Rep. Colin Allred is hoping to defeat Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
Betting company Bonus Code Bets applied an artificial intelligence model to all 50 states for the presidential election. It concluded Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is on course for a narrow win with 276 Electoral College votes, ahead of 262 for Trump.