A number of leading bookmakers have cut their odds on Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election over the past 24 hours. This comes after President Joe Biden sparked controversy by appearing to call supporters of the former president “garbage” during a Zoom call with the organization Voto Latino, though the White House insists his words were taken out of context.
Trump’s odds of victory in November were 1/2 (66.7 percent) on Tuesday with both Bet365 and Paddy Power, two leading bookmakers. However by 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday these had been slashed to 10/21 (67.7 percent) and 4/9 (69.2 percent) respectively. Over the same period Trump’s chances of beating Kamala Harris went from 8/15 (65.2 percent) to 4/9 with Ladbrokes and from 1/2 to 4/9 with both Betfair and Unibet.
On Tuesday Biden called either Trump supporters, or the views of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, garbage according to varying interpretations. This came after Hinchcliffe sparked controversy by describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Gardens in New York on Sunday.
In response to Hinchcliffe, referring to Trump, Biden appeared to say: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters…his his his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.”
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However speaking to Newsweek White House spokesperson Andrew Bates insisted Biden was targeting the “hateful rhetoric coming out of the Madison Square Garden rally,” not supporters of Trump as a collective.
A transcript of Biden’s remarks provided by the White House to Newsweek in support of this claim included an apostrophe at a critical point.
According to the transcript Biden said: “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something. I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr- — in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Speaking at a Trump rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said: “Just moments ago, Joe Biden stated that our supporters our garbage.” This sparked a wave of booing and jeering from rally attendees.
Newsweek contacted representatives of the 2024 Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns for comment on Wednesday via email outside of regular office hours.
Recent polling indicates the 2024 presidential election remains extremely tight, with an analysis by election website FiveThirtyEight giving Harris a 1.4 point lead on Tuesday, with 48.1 percent of the vote to Trump’s 46.7 percent. This study was based on data from a number of recent polls, weighted based on factors including perceived reliability and when they were carried out.
However, on Wednesday FiveThirtyEight had Trump as the favorite to win overall with a 52 percent chance, ahead of Harris on 48 percent.
The Electoral College system means a presidential candidate can win the popular vote but still lose overall, as Hillary Rodham Clinton did in 2016.