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- Stan James and Paddy Power cut Clinton’s odds to -450
- Clinton now has double digit leads in a few battleground states, including Wisconsin where she is now up 15 points
- Once reliable red states like Georgia, Arizona and –dare we say it, Utah – are now up for grabs
- Trump odds still shorter than 3-1 at most books
Hillary Clinton’s odds of becoming the next US President have undergone a seismic shift over the past two weeks, and by Wednesday, the former Secretary of State was now at her shortest odds since entering the campaign.
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Paddy Power and Stan James had both shortened their odds on Clinton to -450. Her previous shortest odds had plateaued at -300. Hillary Clinton has widened her lead to 15 points over real estate magnate and GOP nominee Donald Trump in Wisconsin, once considered a critical battleground state and one she lost to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primaries.
Clinton is also leading in polls in once reliable red states like Georgia, which has not voted a Democrat for President since Hillary’s husband Bill won there in 1992.
"She absolutely can win here," said state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams. "Georgia is the perfect crucible to prove that Democrats can win in the South."
Polls were also tightening in Arizona.
The Democrats haven’t won in Arizona since 1996 yet that state also appears up for grabs.
"I think there are a lot of people who have worked on a lot of tough and heartbreaking races in the state who finally see a chance for us to breakthrough," Democratic strategist Andy Barr said.
And then there is – gulp – Utah.
It turns out the Mormons – a majority in Utah – aren’t exactly enamored with Trump.
Mother Jones explains:
Trump has struggled to win over some Mormon voters in large part because of his extreme positions on immigrants and his proposal to crack down on adherents of a specific religion, Islam. (Mormons have endured a history of religious persecution.)
For her part, Clinton has begun to court the Mormon population. She wrote an opt-ed piece in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake City newspaper published by the Mormon Church.
"I've been fighting to defend religious freedom for years,” she wrote, also referencing her positive working relationship with former Republican Governor Jon Huntsman.
It also doesn't hurt that a local Mormon has jumped into the GOP race and could gain enough traction to put a dent in Trump's efforts there.
Clinton was one point down in a recent Missouri poll and dangerously close in two other reliably Republican-leaning states, Kansas and North Carolina.
The news wasn’t all bad for Trump, whose odds had not yet crossed the 3-1 odds mark at nearly three quarters of the online bookmakers.
