The odds are shortening across the board nationally and in key swing states needed to win the presidency, according to bookmakers in the US.
ADVERTISEMENTThe odds on Donald Trump being returned to the White House for a second term have been slashed by bookmakers as millions head to the polls across the United States.
Trump's odds have narrowed to 6/4 on the eve of the US presidential vote, according to bookmakers Oddschecker who now give him a 40 per cent chance of being reelected.
President Trump's Democractic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden has maintained a substantial distance over the incumbent in opinion polls, with at least a 10-point lead in the last poll to be taken by the Economist and YouGov on November 2.
Pollsters put Biden on 53 per cent of the vote nationally, 10 per cent more than Trump. The margin of error for the poll was 3.3 per cent with a sample size of 1,363 voters.
The research group's projection means that Biden would sweep the Electoral College by 364 to 174. A candidate needs to breach 270 to win.
Callum Wilson, a spokesperson for Oddschecker, said: "America went to sleep knowing Joe Biden was the bookies' favourite to win the 2020 US election. That hasn't changed, but the gap between Donald Trump and Biden has been severely narrowed overnight.
"Yesterday, Joe Biden's 2020 US election odds sat at 8/15, and implied he had a 65.2 per cent chance of winning the 2020 election. That percentage has now dropped to 61.9 per cent chance with his price drifting to 8/13 in places."
He added: "Donald Trump will likely wake up with a spring in his step as more and more people think he could stay for another term. Trump's odds on Monday implied he had just a 34.8 per cent chance of winning the 2020 election. However, his current odds of 6/4 imply he's got 40 per cent chance."
Biden has dominated Trump in opinion polls since January with just a handful polls indicating a dead heat or giving Trump the advantage.
Many may feel like history is repeating itself after Hilary Clinton commanded the polls before being defeated in the 2016 US presidential election which saw then Republican nominee Donald Trump enter the White House.
"In 2016, the sportsbooks only gave Donald Trump a 20 per cent chance of winning on the day before Election Day," indicated Wilson.
The odds in key battleground states have also shortened across the board in favour of the Republicans, though according to opinion polls, Biden is still maintaining strong support in the swing states which Trump carried in 2016.
According to a New York Times/Sienna College poll taken on November 1, the Democrat has built a sizeable advantage over Trump in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida, as well as states like Arizona, which hasn't voted for a Democratic president since 1996.