The chances of President Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 presidential election skyrocketed following his COVID-19 diagnosis, according to bookmakers.
Biden has been under intense pressure to withdraw from the race and make way for a new Democratic nominee in the weeks after a widely panned performance during the June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump.
Predictive betting website Polymarket listed the likelihood that “Biden drops out of the presidential race” at 69 percent around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, just over two hours after the White House announced that the president had contracted the virus.
The odds had spiked from about 33 percent to 50 percent earlier in the day after Biden told BET News that he might be willing to drop out if doctors told him he had a “medical condition.”
“Biden just tested positive for COVID. Earlier today he said he’d consider dropping out if he had a ‘medical condition.’ Odds he drops out shot up to 66%,” Polymarket wrote just after the diagnosis was announced on X, formerly Twitter.
While Polymarket allows international users to place “yes” or “no” bets on propositions that predict world events, betting on politics is illegal in the U.S.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Biden campaign via email on Wednesday night.
Biden had been set to speak at conference of Latino leaders in Las Vegas, Nevada earlier on Wednesday before his appearance was abruptly canceled due to his diagnosis.
“Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.”
Physician to the president Kevin O’Connor said that Biden had “presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms” and received first dose of anti-COVID drug Paxlovid shortly after testing positive.
While Biden has responded to calls for him to drop out of the election by repeatedly saying that he plans to remain the presumptive Democratic nominee, there were some indications on Wednesday that pressure on the president was increasing and his stance on stepping aside may have shifted.
Reports emerged earlier in the day that Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the president to drop out of the race during a meeting on Saturday.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates reacted to the reports by telling Ed O’Keefe of CBS News that Biden had informed both Democratic leaders that “he is the nominee of the party” and “plans to win.”
Representative Adam Schiff also joined the ranks of sitting Democratic lawmakers publicly calling for Biden’s withdrawal on Wednesday, saying in a statement that “it is time for him to pass the torch.”
Meanwhile, CNN‘s Jeff Zeleny reported that an unnamed senior Democratic adviser said Biden has recently become “more receptive” to suggestions that he step aside, claiming that the president has been “listening” to critiques and asking advisers whether Vice President Kamala Harris “can win” the election instead.
