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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Poll of US servicemen and women finds Trump has lost the Milit

SystemSystem Posts: 12,169
edited September 2020 in General
imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Poll of US servicemen and women finds Trump has lost the Military vote. Biden has a 4% lead

Given some of the noises coming from the Oval Office at the moment this poll of men and women serving in the US military could be hugely significant for Trump who seems to have lost the support of active service troops.

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Laying Trump should be the betting opportunity of a lifetime, but i dunno. If only I had some courage.
  • USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02
  • OT Schools go back today.

    What's that about? Back in the day, we'd have started next week; never the 1st September. (Sorry for going all England-centric on pb!)
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    edited September 2020
    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.
  • The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599

    USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    Two months out and the betting markets are still thinking about both main candidates being replaced.

    In normal times that would be mad, but then you hear them both speak yesterday.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 36,002

  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,210
    Sandpit said:

    USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    Two months out and the betting markets are still thinking about both main candidates being replaced.

    In normal times that would be mad, but then you hear them both speak yesterday.
    That's a pretty broad definition of "speak" you have
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,463
    Good morning everyone. September; where has the summer gone? However, one way and another quite pleased with August, on a personal basis. Wife & I have seen, and been with, all our 'children' and grandchildren. At least those who are in the UK.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,751
    Sandpit said:

    USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    Two months out and the betting markets are still thinking about both main candidates being replaced.

    In normal times that would be mad, but then you hear them both speak yesterday.
    Major reason why the betting is out of kilter with the polls I reckon.

    That and people have bought into the narrative that Trump will rig the election or refuse to go if he loses, which means the polls don’t count.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    edited September 2020
    Can I just say thanks to @Scott_P for that link to Biden, perfectly acceptable in the circumstances, yesterday. Its pretty much gone viral in my family and friends. Sums up the situation exactly.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    DavidL said:

    Can I just say thanks to @Scott_P for that link to Biden, perfectly acceptable in the circumstances, yesterday. Its pretty much gone viral in my family and friends. Sums up the situation exactly.

    Sorry, is it @Scott_xP now? I am behind the times.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,999
    edited September 2020
    I wonder if Trump's noises about a rigged election are as much a psychological fig leaf for a possible defeat as a hard intent to contest the result? If you were Trump (an idea hard to encompass I confess), wouldn't you want the post election narrative to be we wuz robbed, probably, rather than I was beaten fair & square by Sleepy Joe.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,210
    Scott_xP said:
    It's not an entirely stupid point from Trump. In high pressure situations, people make mistakes.

    However, the question has to be: why are so many people killed by police in the US (around 1,200 a year) compared to - say - the UK (1 in 2018, 3 in 2019)?

    Most of the difference, obviously, is due to more people having guns in the US. But there's also a culture of militarisation of the police that has led to increasing death at the hands of law enforcement, even when the overall murder rate has dropped dramatically.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,463
    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859

    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
    At least I am not expected to bring home a slice of mammoth (at least not physically).
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    rcs1000 said:

    Scott_xP said:
    It's not an entirely stupid point from Trump. In high pressure situations, people make mistakes.

    However, the question has to be: why are so many people killed by police in the US (around 1,200 a year) compared to - say - the UK (1 in 2018, 3 in 2019)?

    Most of the difference, obviously, is due to more people having guns in the US. But there's also a culture of militarisation of the police that has led to increasing death at the hands of law enforcement, even when the overall murder rate has dropped dramatically.
    I'm not sure if that isn't tautological.

    If you arm a body and give them cool black kit to wear then that is militarisation isn't it? Or are you talking about the SWAT teams and special units?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    rcs1000 said:

    Scott_xP said:
    It's not an entirely stupid point from Trump. In high pressure situations, people make mistakes.

    However, the question has to be: why are so many people killed by police in the US (around 1,200 a year) compared to - say - the UK (1 in 2018, 3 in 2019)?

    Most of the difference, obviously, is due to more people having guns in the US. But there's also a culture of militarisation of the police that has led to increasing death at the hands of law enforcement, even when the overall murder rate has dropped dramatically.
    To put that into perspective the intentional homicide rate for the UK is 1.2 per hundred thousand and death by police officer in the US is 1/3 of that total on its own.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,463
    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
    At least I am not expected to bring home a slice of mammoth (at least not physically).
    Progress, my friend, progress. Now what you need is a jewel made out of the beasts tusk!
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    rcs1000 said:

    Scott_xP said:
    It's not an entirely stupid point from Trump. In high pressure situations, people make mistakes.

    However, the question has to be: why are so many people killed by police in the US (around 1,200 a year) compared to - say - the UK (1 in 2018, 3 in 2019)?

    Most of the difference, obviously, is due to more people having guns in the US. But there's also a culture of militarisation of the police that has led to increasing death at the hands of law enforcement, even when the overall murder rate has dropped dramatically.
    Do we think that it’s something that’s got worse over time, or simply that bad interactions between police and public are more likely to now be caught on camera?

    The militarisation of the police is definitely a newer phenomenon, although which is the cause and which is the effect from the war on drugs is difficult to work out. The gangs are certainly heavily armed. (We can also observe this in the U.K., look at how police uniform has become much more military-looking over the years).

    There’s also still one police officer killed every week in the line of duty, it’s a disproportionately dangerous job to do.
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    DavidL said:

    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.

    This is why the exams story played out as it did.

    If they’d done this year’s exams as scheduled, or slightly delayed, the story would have been how disadvantaged students were ‘denied’ ‘their’ place at university, because the private schools and top Acadamies could offer distance learning and everyone had a computer.
  • coachcoach Posts: 250
    I find this fascinating, does anybody on here have info regarding polling figures and exchange prices in previous elections? As pointed out below its virtually evens each of two now.

    Polls here have become unreliable is that the case in US too?
  • eekeek Posts: 28,400
    It seems Trump may also be spending a lot of us government money on his re-election

    https://twitter.com/johngansjr/status/1300584075137347584?s=21

    Mind you the UK and US have very different rules on what is fair during an election.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.

    This is why the exams story played out as it did.

    If they’d done this year’s exams as scheduled, or slightly delayed, the story would have been how disadvantaged students were ‘denied’ ‘their’ place at university, because the private schools and top Acadamies could offer distance learning and everyone had a computer.
    It's why it always plays out that way. The algorithm was individually unfair but reflected the collective reality that our crap schools are, err, crap. Why the solution to that is giving prizes to all rather than actually focusing on the underlying problem of useless teaching and persistent under performance escapes me.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,859
    Anyway, to work (gosh this is exciting!)
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
    Not really in the UK. The sole breadwinner family is a relatively recent invention and highly class based.

    In peasantry time the whole family unit worked. Even as you transition to 17th 18th centruty
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Scott_xP said:
    It's not an entirely stupid point from Trump. In high pressure situations, people make mistakes.

    However, the question has to be: why are so many people killed by police in the US (around 1,200 a year) compared to - say - the UK (1 in 2018, 3 in 2019)?

    Most of the difference, obviously, is due to more people having guns in the US. But there's also a culture of militarisation of the police that has led to increasing death at the hands of law enforcement, even when the overall murder rate has dropped dramatically.
    Do we think that it’s something that’s got worse over time, or simply that bad interactions between police and public are more likely to now be caught on camera?

    The militarisation of the police is definitely a newer phenomenon, although which is the cause and which is the effect from the war on drugs is difficult to work out. The gangs are certainly heavily armed. (We can also observe this in the U.K., look at how police uniform has become much more military-looking over the years).

    There’s also still one police officer killed every week in the line of duty, it’s a disproportionately dangerous job to do.
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty
    Those deaths include things like crashing while driving the patrol car, not during a chase.

    One of the biggest improvements in police officer deaths in America was the introduction of mandatory seat belts.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,205
    Sandpit said:



    There’s also still one police officer killed every week in the line of duty, it’s a disproportionately dangerous job to do.
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty

    In the USA, you don't head back into your car if the police have firearms drawn on you.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    For a safer return, Biden winning the popular vote at 1.27 looks good.
  • I wonder if Trump's noises about a rigged election are as much a psychological fig leaf for a possible defeat as a hard intent to contest the result? If you were Trump (an idea hard to encompass I confess), wouldn't you want the post election narrative to be we wuz robbed, probably, rather than I was beaten fair & square by Sleepy Joe.

    Could also be the Art of the Deal: If Biden wants Trump to get the militias to stand down, he'd better make sure none of Trump's corruption gets prosecuted...
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    There’s also that our news sources, certainly the BBC, continue to report this as a neck and neck race.
  • The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    I generally agree with that and I still think Biden is incredibly good value. But in fairness punters got what (I think, a bit early to say) turned out to be a tightening of the race before there was any publicly available polling on it.
  • OT Schools go back today.

    What's that about? Back in the day, we'd have started next week; never the 1st September. (Sorry for going all England-centric on pb!)

    I go back today (along with the rest of the staff) but we, along with many if not most schools, have a few training days first. Some pupils will be back later this week and the rest at the beginning of next.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    edited September 2020
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
    Not really in the UK. The sole breadwinner family is a relatively recent invention and highly class based.

    In peasantry time the whole family unit worked. Even as you transition to 17th 18th centruty
    And indeed the textile industry during the Industrial Revolution was predominantly female. Not to mention domestic service in the 19th century.

    Methinks Mr Cole lives 'upstairs'.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
    IanB2 said:

    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    For a safer return, Biden winning the popular vote at 1.27 looks good.
    The "Will next President lose the popular vote?" at 1.57 for No, is another shorter odds one to consider.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    rcs1000 said:

    Scott_xP said:
    It's not an entirely stupid point from Trump. In high pressure situations, people make mistakes.

    However, the question has to be: why are so many people killed by police in the US (around 1,200 a year) compared to - say - the UK (1 in 2018, 3 in 2019)?

    Most of the difference, obviously, is due to more people having guns in the US. But there's also a culture of militarisation of the police that has led to increasing death at the hands of law enforcement, even when the overall murder rate has dropped dramatically.
    There’s also the point that US gun culture encourages that mindset. And I suspect that applies as much to the police as the general population.

    This thoughtful article in the Atlantic lays out one stark example:
    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-and-sheepdog-mentality/615805/
    ... But the videos themselves are insidious. Most people in the United States, allowing for wild variation in race, class, and education, are victims of violence only very rarely. Watching the videos, however, invites you to simulate violence at an extraordinary rate, much higher than we are mentally equipped to manage. (Correia himself has seen tens of thousands of them, and he posts a new one to his channel about once or twice a day.) The effect of these videos is to habituate viewers to that violence, to train them to imagine themselves in it. Training yourself to imagine something makes it seem more likely to happen, and primes your instincts to react to it—and, I suspect, initiate that violent reaction and overdo it when circumstances could be resolved more peacefully...
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    And of course a significant percentage of US law enforcement is plain racist.
    For example, this quite obviously has nothing to do with fearing for personal safety:

    I Was a U.S. Diplomat. Customs and Border Protection Only Cared That I Was Black.
    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/30/black-us-diplomat-customs-border-protection-cbp-detained-harassed-325676
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,298
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599
    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    For a safer return, Biden winning the popular vote at 1.27 looks good.
    The "Will next President lose the popular vote?" at 1.57 for No, is another shorter odds one to consider.
    That’s a better bet on Biden winning the PV.

    Trump’s route to 270 looks very much like it did last time, a lot of small wins in marginal middle states, while Biden piles them high in California and New York. Florida is still the key, if that flips to Biden he’s pretty much home.

  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,191
    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    I'm not sure it's that much to do with 2016. Here's the argument for Trump being evens to be reelected that ignores 2016:

    Biden is currently 4.6% ahead in Minnesota which would be the current tipping point state (538 polling averages), the other important swing states are similar (Pennsylvania 4.7%, Florida 4.5%).

    1. 4.6% ahead in polling should make you favourite, but a 4.6% polling lead at the end of August isn't terribly predictive of the result, so should only make Biden slight favourite.

    2. Against that, there is the fact that the last 3 times the incumbent president has won a second term. It's a small sample but it counts for something.

    3. The possibility that the economy (and the pandemic) will be doing relatively a lot better than now by November so Trump's polling will improve.

    4. The speculation that the law and order issue will help Trump. It might not, but it might.

    5. The momentum right now in the polls is towards Trump.

    6. The possibility that the campaign will help Trump: effective social media, willingness to play dirty, Biden making gaffes, some mud thrown at Biden will stick. Trump's gaffe's and scandals are already priced in.

    7. The possibility that Republican voter suppression will be more effective than ever.

    All of those things are more or less speculative, but I can see the idea that one or more of them might turn out to be true is enough to overcome the small advantage that Biden gets for being about 5% ahead in the polls this far away from the election.

    Personally, I give Trump less than 50% chance, not because Biden is effectively 5% ahead in the polls. But because the polls are pretty stable and there don't seem to be many undecideds. Looking again, for example, at the Minnesota 538 polling average, Biden is on 50% and hasn't been on less than 49.6% on the whole graph (starting May 19).
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/minnesota/

    The approval ratings also seem to show that most people made up their minds about Trump a long time ago:
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
    especially if you scroll down and see how stable his negative ratings have been through his whole presidency compared to all other presidents since WW2.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    edited September 2020
    Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    For a safer return, Biden winning the popular vote at 1.27 looks good.
    The "Will next President lose the popular vote?" at 1.57 for No, is another shorter odds one to consider.
    That’s a better bet on Biden winning the PV.

    Trump’s route to 270 looks very much like it did last time, a lot of small wins in marginal middle states, while Biden piles them high in California and New York. Florida is still the key, if that flips to Biden he’s pretty much home.

    In which latter case you lose that bet!
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315
    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/america-tyranny-donald-trump.html

    A prescient article about Trump from 2016 but relevant to this year’s election. Also its analysis of how democracy can evolve into tyranny is pertinent here.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,191
    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.

    This is why the exams story played out as it did.

    If they’d done this year’s exams as scheduled, or slightly delayed, the story would have been how disadvantaged students were ‘denied’ ‘their’ place at university, because the private schools and top Acadamies could offer distance learning and everyone had a computer.
    As the story would have been correct, I am not sure why you are using quotation marks around "denied".
  • I wonder what about the draft dodging President who has turned a blind eye to the Russians putting a bounty on US troops, while insulting military vets who were captured as POWs, has upset the military.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,176
    kamski said:

    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.

    This is why the exams story played out as it did.

    If they’d done this year’s exams as scheduled, or slightly delayed, the story would have been how disadvantaged students were ‘denied’ ‘their’ place at university, because the private schools and top Acadamies could offer distance learning and everyone had a computer.
    As the story would have been correct, I am not sure why you are using quotation marks around "denied".
    Because there were no good options. Perhaps they should have written off the next academic year and had them do their exams next June.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
    edited September 2020
    kamski said:

    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    I'm not sure it's that much to do with 2016. Here's the argument for Trump being evens to be reelected that ignores 2016:

    Biden is currently 4.6% ahead in Minnesota which would be the current tipping point state (538 polling averages), the other important swing states are similar (Pennsylvania 4.7%, Florida 4.5%).

    1. 4.6% ahead in polling should make you favourite, but a 4.6% polling lead at the end of August isn't terribly predictive of the result, so should only make Biden slight favourite.

    2. Against that, there is the fact that the last 3 times the incumbent president has won a second term. It's a small sample but it counts for something.

    3. The possibility that the economy (and the pandemic) will be doing relatively a lot better than now by November so Trump's polling will improve.

    4. The speculation that the law and order issue will help Trump. It might not, but it might.

    5. The momentum right now in the polls is towards Trump.

    6. The possibility that the campaign will help Trump: effective social media, willingness to play dirty, Biden making gaffes, some mud thrown at Biden will stick. Trump's gaffe's and scandals are already priced in.

    7. The possibility that Republican voter suppression will be more effective than ever.

    All of those things are more or less speculative, but I can see the idea that one or more of them might turn out to be true is enough to overcome the small advantage that Biden gets for being about 5% ahead in the polls this far away from the election.

    Personally, I give Trump less than 50% chance, not because Biden is effectively 5% ahead in the polls. But because the polls are pretty stable and there don't seem to be many undecideds. Looking again, for example, at the Minnesota 538 polling average, Biden is on 50% and hasn't been on less than 49.6% on the whole graph (starting May 19).
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/minnesota/

    The approval ratings also seem to show that most people made up their minds about Trump a long time ago:
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
    especially if you scroll down and see how stable his negative ratings have been through his whole presidency compared to all other presidents since WW2.
    Sure, the race ain't done yet and there can always be events.

    Nonetheless Biden's poll lead is clear and consistent, and not altering beyond MoE over the last months.

    Law and Order may not play better with the public than it does with the military. At the time of the poll tax riots, Kinnock led Thatcher by as much as 25% for example.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,205
    UK's first black PM ?

    https://tinyurl.com/rashford
  • Nigelb said:

    And of course a significant percentage of US law enforcement is plain racist.
    For example, this quite obviously has nothing to do with fearing for personal safety:

    I Was a U.S. Diplomat. Customs and Border Protection Only Cared That I Was Black.
    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/30/black-us-diplomat-customs-border-protection-cbp-detained-harassed-325676

    Make America Great Again
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    edited September 2020
    Good piece on why Minnesota might flip, knew they should've picked KLOBUCHAR...

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-minnesota-could-be-the-next-midwestern-state-to-go-red/
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    Good piece on why Minnesota might flip, knew they should've picked KLOBUCHAR...

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-minnesota-could-be-the-next-midwestern-state-to-go-red/

    I went to bet on a Minnesota GOP pickup yesterday but the odds were too skinny for my liking.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,191
    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,766
    edited September 2020
    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    Frankly, I'm at the point where I am beginning to think it is going to take a civil war to remove Trump. He's possibly clinically mentally ill yet the vast majority of GOP don't care and will back him over a functioning democracy. He clearly will do anything to win.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315
    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    They already have.
  • kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    And thats after gangs of MAGA armed militia have harassed and repelled the 8 hour lines of voters turning out to the few remaining polling places left after GOP election officials have removed most of them in DNC areas.

    As with the charming story of the US Diplomat harassed into unhealth by her own border officials for the crime of being an uppity black woman who doesn't know her place, the sight of people being stopped from voting by armed gangs backed by the President will demonstrate that America truly is the greatest country the world has ever known.
  • USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    It's only 9 weeks today.

    They will both make it.

    [Amusingly, I've just laid Hillary for Next President at 300s for a few f
    quid - for some, it seems hope springs eternal..]
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 5,065
    kamski said:

    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    I'm not sure it's that much to do with 2016. Here's the argument for Trump being evens to be reelected that ignores 2016:

    Biden is currently 4.6% ahead in Minnesota which would be the current tipping point state (538 polling averages), the other important swing states are similar (Pennsylvania 4.7%, Florida 4.5%).

    1. 4.6% ahead in polling should make you favourite, but a 4.6% polling lead at the end of August isn't terribly predictive of the result, so should only make Biden slight favourite.

    2. Against that, there is the fact that the last 3 times the incumbent president has won a second term. It's a small sample but it counts for something.

    3. The possibility that the economy (and the pandemic) will be doing relatively a lot better than now by November so Trump's polling will improve.

    4. The speculation that the law and order issue will help Trump. It might not, but it might.

    5. The momentum right now in the polls is towards Trump.

    6. The possibility that the campaign will help Trump: effective social media, willingness to play dirty, Biden making gaffes, some mud thrown at Biden will stick. Trump's gaffe's and scandals are already priced in.

    7. The possibility that Republican voter suppression will be more effective than ever.

    All of those things are more or less speculative, but I can see the idea that one or more of them might turn out to be true is enough to overcome the small advantage that Biden gets for being about 5% ahead in the polls this far away from the election.

    Personally, I give Trump less than 50% chance, not because Biden is effectively 5% ahead in the polls. But because the polls are pretty stable and there don't seem to be many undecideds. Looking again, for example, at the Minnesota 538 polling average, Biden is on 50% and hasn't been on less than 49.6% on the whole graph (starting May 19).
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/minnesota/

    The approval ratings also seem to show that most people made up their minds about Trump a long time ago:
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
    especially if you scroll down and see how stable his negative ratings have been through his whole presidency compared to all other presidents since WW2.
    I agree with most of this except for
    "2. Against that, there is the fact that the last 3 times the incumbent president has won a second term. It's a small sample but it counts for something."
    which is blatant cherry picking.
    Cherry picking the other way you get 4 out of the last 7 incumbent presidents have won which is not nearly so impressive.
    But the biggest problem with this argument is that this is a fixed "incumbency bonus" which is constant and is already included in the current poll results.

    Overall though, I agree that the betting markets are probably (implicitly) assuming a high variance over the coming months, ie the polls and final results could still move quite a lot. I just don't get how it can be evens though, when all sensible "nowcast" analysis predicts a Biden win/good probability for Biden to win.
  • kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    Yes, Trump's odds might partially reflect things like that rather than the polling, which is clearly narrowing in certain places even though Biden still has healthy leads.

    It's why I really want Biden to focus on the rust belt and thumping him in the swing states.

  • Cyclefree said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    They already have.
    He's right though. Thugs. Black uniform. On a plane. Isn't that how the badgeless nameless federal goons are transported about to go and beat up protestors? He's talking about his own people...
  • kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    Maybe this is why the punters have moved towards Trump despite polling?

    They know he will rig this election, refuse to go and there is a good chance that as the DOJ and so on are in his control, in the end there is nothing Biden will be able to do. The counting will stop. The ballots will be declared void. The harder end of Dems supporters will take to the streets and of course Trump will need to crack down on them with all he has at his command.

    Given how precarious the situation is politically I have absolutely no idea why the US stock market is doing so well. Even in ordinary political times it tends to get a bit nervous near hand over of power. Now we have no idea whether a proper democratic election will even take place.
  • Pulpstar said:

    UK's first black PM ?

    https://tinyurl.com/rashford

    Probably not because he'd almost certainly go via the Labour Party, who wouldn't elect him.

    Kwasi, Kemi, Bim or James Cleverly would all have a better chance.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,381
    Pulpstar said:

    UK's first black PM ?

    https://tinyurl.com/rashford

    Would the Conservative Party have to pay Manchester United a transfer fee?
  • Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:



    There’s also still one police officer killed every week in the line of duty, it’s a disproportionately dangerous job to do.
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty

    In the USA, you don't head back into your car if the police have firearms drawn on you.
    In the USA I think I'd avoid police officers like the plague and lie on the ground with my hands behind my back reflexively if they ever came up to me saying, "British tourist! British tourist!".
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,298
    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    For a safer return, Biden winning the popular vote at 1.27 looks good.
    The "Will next President lose the popular vote?" at 1.57 for No, is another shorter odds one to consider.
    I think that's quite a poor bet actually.

    It comes off if Biden wins PV + EC or if Trump wins PV + EC.

    Biden to win EC (only) is ~1.95.

    So the only additional possibilities your bet covers are Trump winning PV + EC.
    That doesn't seem very likely to me, and certainly not a 13% chance.


  • Cyclefree said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    They already have.
    He's right though. Thugs. Black uniform. On a plane. Isn't that how the badgeless nameless federal goons are transported about to go and beat up protestors? He's talking about his own people...
    Maybe he means Putin's undercover guys? There's a lot of work to do to keep their man in the WH.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    edited September 2020
    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
    At least I am not expected to bring home a slice of mammoth (at least not physically).
    Well not with that attitude, but itd be a nice treat.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,381

    Pulpstar said:

    UK's first black PM ?

    https://tinyurl.com/rashford

    Probably not because he'd almost certainly go via the Labour Party, who wouldn't elect him.

    Kwasi, Kemi, Bim or James Cleverly would all have a better chance.
    Lots and lots of conjecture in such a short post!
  • coachcoach Posts: 250

    USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    It's only 9 weeks today.

    They will both make it.

    [Amusingly, I've just laid Hillary for Next President at 300s for a few f
    quid - for some, it seems hope springs eternal..]
    You must have plenty in your betfair account
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    I think he sees himself as a modern Julius Caesar.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,877
    edited September 2020
    Sandpit said:



    There’s also still one police officer killed every week in the line of duty, it’s a disproportionately dangerous job to do.
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty

    While your link is undoubtedly true it does not paint the whole picture by a long shot. Police do not even make the top ten dangerous jobs in the us much though they would like you to think so

    https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/the-10-most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-according-to-bls-data.html

    https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/careers/2018/01/09/workplace-fatalities-25-most-dangerous-jobs-america/1002500001/

    As to sources. The second had police at number 14 and even then less than half the recorded fatalities were death by being shot which was 46 out of 102. Roughly in line with your link.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    edited September 2020
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Going back into the "office" (its really a library) this morning for the first time in a few weeks. My wife is cheering me out the door and seriously looking forward to some time in the house on her own, once son is off to school and daughter to work.

    She really needs her alone time and has found this lockdown very hard. I suspect that there is many like her.

    For most of humanity men have gone 'out of home to work and women have stayed 'in the home' for childcare, housecare.
    At least that seems to be the pattern, looking at things world-wide.
    Not really in the UK. The sole breadwinner family is a relatively recent invention and highly class based.

    In peasantry time the whole family unit worked. Even as you transition to 17th 18th centruty
    Dont have shirkers when you're subsistence.
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 5,065
    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    Some of the posts (not just Kamski) on this aspect of the election results seem to be feeding on each other and letting imaganiations run riot.

    If Trump claims "boxes stuffed with fake Biden votes" he can't just over turn a result. That is a matter for the state and possibly the Supreme Court. While the members sitting on the Supreme Court are partisan they still work within the evidence available and the applicable laws. They will need to see a hell of a lot more evidence than a rumour in Florida of vote suffing retweeted by the president.

    When it comes to Trump having the military on his side or not that is irrelveant (other than the votes they cast at the ballot box). Anyone who thinks that in the USA the military will keep a president in office despite having been voted out, or will support a "Democrat coup" if Trump refuses to go, are living in Lala-Land.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,533

    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    Frankly, I'm at the point where I am beginning to think it is going to take a civil war to remove Trump. He's possibly clinically mentally ill yet the vast majority of GOP don't care and will back him over a functioning democracy. He clearly will do anything to win.
    While that is still hyperbole, there's a legitimate question about what degree of democratic dysfunction is required before one contemplates other options. The basic requirement of democracy is that it should be *possible* to change the government by voting. If the scenario above were to happen, I think that many peaceful people would conclude that mass civil disobedience was appropriate.
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 5,065
    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    I think he sees himself as a modern Julius Caesar.
    I doubt Trump knows who Julius Caesar is. He probably thinks he's a Brazilian soccer player.
  • coachcoach Posts: 250
    It seems one or two on here are confusing Trump with Putin with regard to fair elections
  • Pulpstar said:

    UK's first black PM ?

    https://tinyurl.com/rashford

    Probably not because he'd almost certainly go via the Labour Party, who wouldn't elect him.

    Kwasi, Kemi, Bim or James Cleverly would all have a better chance.
    Lots and lots of conjecture in such a short post!
    They all have a better chance than Rashford who's only 22 and not an MP.

    He's probably got 15 years at least until he's in a leadership contending position, at the earliest.
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 5,065
    edited September 2020
    coach said:

    It seems one or two on here are confusing Trump with Putin with regard to fair elections

    ...or even Lukaschenko and Mugabe.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    edited September 2020
    This is interesting - Shadsy mentions that PredictIt is one of the few markets open to US punters, but also I think it limits your stakes, so it might be suggesting that Trump support is coming from a small number of people putting a lot of money on.

    https://twitter.com/LadPolitics/status/1300703630010572802
  • coach said:

    USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    It's only 9 weeks today.

    They will both make it.

    [Amusingly, I've just laid Hillary for Next President at 300s for a few f
    quid - for some, it seems hope springs eternal..]
    You must have plenty in your betfair account
    If you've got £2k on the market then you can lay that for £5 or £6.

    Hillary should be 1000/1
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    eristdoof said:

    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    I think he sees himself as a modern Julius Caesar.
    I doubt Trump knows who Julius Caesar is. He probably thinks he's a Brazilian soccer player.
    Good point. Hed probably prefer Crassus anyway.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,599

    This is interesting - Shadsy mentions that PredictIt is one of the few markets open to US punters, but also I think it limits your stakes, so it might be suggesting that Trump support is coming from a small number of people putting a lot of money on.

    https://twitter.com/LadPolitics/status/1300703630010572802

    At the last US election there were some big arb opportunities between Predictit and Betfair, if you were able to get on both - you'll likely need both a US and UK credit card to do that though.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,226
    Foxy said:

    The betting markets are lagging behind the opinion polling because of normalcy bias, I think. I was guilty of the same thing in the 2019 UK election, although here the markets read the runes.

    The neatest result, and the one which will despatch Trump from the Oval Office without further social media circus, would be a convincing Biden victory and I'm beginning to think it will happen.

    It is hard to know what is causing the mismatch between the polls and the betting markets. Some have speculated that a Trump partisan is supporting their man on Betfair in order to create a media narrative that everything is still to play for. A more mundane explanation is that any Britons paying attention to American politics is more likely to tend to the alt-right and they believe their own propaganda. A third possibility, which may prove expensive for many here, is the betting is correct and the polls are wrong. You can't buck the markets!
    I don't think it deliberate distortion of the market, so much as alt-right and other bettors expecting the race to be closer than it is because of 2016.

    I am backing the Trump EV market band of 180-209, which still seems value at 8.4
    That's me too. It's value imo.
  • MangoMango Posts: 1,019
    DavidL said:

    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.

    This is why the exams story played out as it did.

    If they’d done this year’s exams as scheduled, or slightly delayed, the story would have been how disadvantaged students were ‘denied’ ‘their’ place at university, because the private schools and top Acadamies could offer distance learning and everyone had a computer.
    It's why it always plays out that way. The algorithm was individually unfair but reflected the collective reality that our crap schools are, err, crap. Why the solution to that is giving prizes to all rather than actually focusing on the underlying problem of useless teaching and persistent under performance escapes me.
    Ban private education. Task number 2 on the how to fix the UK in a generation or two list.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    coach said:

    It seems one or two on here are confusing Trump with Putin with regard to fair elections

    Trump cheats at golf.

    The reason he cheats is that he thinks everyone else cheats.

    He carries this line of thought into everything he does. The reason he rips off his contractors is he thinks they are trying to rip him off.

    I have absolute confidence that Trump really. Does think the Dems will be ballot stuffing and fraudulently voting. And as a result he will be looking for ways to do it himself.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,400
    edited September 2020
    eristdoof said:

    coach said:

    It seems one or two on here are confusing Trump with Putin with regard to fair elections

    ...or even Lukaschenko and Mugabe.
    Not quite, Putin and co declare victory after stuffing the ballot boxes, Trump has worked out how to stop votes against him being cast (by destroying the postal service) and if that fails being counted (by not allowing late postal votes to be counted).

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,366
    DavidL said:

    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    I think that this is going to be the story of the day: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds

    A 46% rise in the attainment gap as we acknowledge that most schools didn't even get off the ground in terms of remote learning. You can be a bit cynical about the percentage and how it is measured but there is no doubt that the majority of schools failed the majority of pupils over the summer term and have done nothing since.

    There seems a consensus that the exams will have to be delayed but very little constructive thought about what happens from there in terms of University applications and entrance. As my son will be going to University at the end of this school year I am watching with a fair degree of apprehension.

    This is why the exams story played out as it did.

    If they’d done this year’s exams as scheduled, or slightly delayed, the story would have been how disadvantaged students were ‘denied’ ‘their’ place at university, because the private schools and top Acadamies could offer distance learning and everyone had a computer.
    It's why it always plays out that way. The algorithm was individually unfair but reflected the collective reality that our crap schools are, err, crap. Why the solution to that is giving prizes to all rather than actually focusing on the underlying problem of useless teaching and persistent under performance escapes me.
    We should really have a betting market on the next lurch in the media narrative.

    I would like to put some money on the "discovery" that empty office space won't just bankrupt some EvulToryDonors - that lots of low wage earners, from the poor parts of cities have just had their jobs evaporate.
  • Off topic, by the way, does anyone know of or anything about Hurst Llama?

    He hasn't tweeted for several weeks and I know he was heading into hospital for some tests.

    A few of us are concerned.

    Please let me know or DM me.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,929
    edited September 2020

    USA President betting -- almost evens again, with a small premium for both named candidates indicating slight doubts they will make it to November.

    Biden 1.99
    Dem 1.96

    Trump 2.04
    Rep 2.02

    It's only 9 weeks today.

    They will both make it.

    [Amusingly, I've just laid Hillary for Next President at 300s for a few f
    quid - for some, it seems hope springs eternal..]
    It might even be less than nine weeks. There must come a point when Trump and Biden are the official candidates even if they are not the actual candidates, simply because it would take too long to print new ballot papers. The electoral college might almost be designed for this sort of contingency.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,533
    Cyclefree said:

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/america-tyranny-donald-trump.html

    A prescient article about Trump from 2016 but relevant to this year’s election. Also its analysis of how democracy can evolve into tyranny is pertinent here.

    Gosh - remarkable article, even if long. While I start from a different place from the author (who is so elitist that he flirts with regret that the francvhise was expanded beyond property-owners), he is spot on about how Trump has succeeded and evolved.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Sandpit said:

    This is interesting - Shadsy mentions that PredictIt is one of the few markets open to US punters, but also I think it limits your stakes, so it might be suggesting that Trump support is coming from a small number of people putting a lot of money on.

    https://twitter.com/LadPolitics/status/1300703630010572802

    At the last US election there were some big arb opportunities between Predictit and Betfair, if you were able to get on both - you'll likely need both a US and UK credit card to do that though.
    The Romney Obama predict it / Betfair gap was astronomical at one point.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677

    Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:



    There’s also still one police officer killed every week in the line of duty, it’s a disproportionately dangerous job to do.
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty

    In the USA, you don't head back into your car if the police have firearms drawn on you.
    In the USA I think I'd avoid police officers like the plague and lie on the ground with my hands behind my back reflexively if they ever came up to me saying, "British tourist! British tourist!".
    It's highly variable and unpredictable. CHP were chill af but Tennessee State Troopers are fuckers. I once went full Smokey and the Bandit for the Virginia border rather than be pulled over by them a second time.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    kle4 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    I think he sees himself as a modern Julius Caesar.
    America est omnis divisa in partes duo...
  • Maybe Dem supporters are backing Trump's price down. A close result will drive their turn out?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,205
    Biden is even money on Betfair ! Just had (another) top up..
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,191
    eristdoof said:

    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    Is the US really going to re-elect an orange David Icke ?

    https://twitter.com/m_clem/status/1300636070816681984

    Whether they elect him or not, Trump will certainly claim victory if he is ahead on in-person votes (which he will be). He will "find" boxes stuffed with fake Biden mail-in votes and so will ignore all mail-in votes. Republican elected officials will go along with this, because they are mostly gangsters or religious fundamentalists (often the same thing), or at least don't want to go against Trump because they are afraid of losing primaries. It could get very nasty.
    Some of the posts (not just Kamski) on this aspect of the election results seem to be feeding on each other and letting imaganiations run riot.

    If Trump claims "boxes stuffed with fake Biden votes" he can't just over turn a result. That is a matter for the state and possibly the Supreme Court. While the members sitting on the Supreme Court are partisan they still work within the evidence available and the applicable laws. They will need to see a hell of a lot more evidence than a rumour in Florida of vote suffing retweeted by the president.

    When it comes to Trump having the military on his side or not that is irrelveant (other than the votes they cast at the ballot box). Anyone who thinks that in the USA the military will keep a president in office despite having been voted out, or will support a "Democrat coup" if Trump refuses to go, are living in Lala-Land.
    He may not succeed in overturning a result, but there could easily be arguments over what the result is. And I can easily imagine things getting pretty nasty.

    And there are currently dozens of lawsuits over who can vote, how people can vote etc, many of them are listed here:

    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/how-to-vote-2020/
This discussion has been closed.