The seemingly never-ending process of electing the next President of the United States of America has many more twists and turns to come but the biggest issue right now is who will be nominated as the Republican candidate. The Presidential election itself won't take place until 8th November 2016 but right now all political eyes are on Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, the two leaders in the race to become the Republican candidate in that race. If you fancy a bet on who will claim their party's vote, read on for our thoughts, predictions, betting tips and, as ever, the best available live betting odds comparison.
The race to become the Republican Party candidate began way back in March when Texas Senator Ted Cruz became the first person to officially throw their hat into the ring. The early bird may well catch the worm, but in this instance it appears it appears Cruz won't be heading to the White House, with the 44-year-old priced as the 25/1 (with Bet365) eighth favourite.
There are 16 declared candidates at the time of writing, however, so we can't write Cruz off entirely, in what is often an unpredictable battle. Whilst predicting who will ultimately prevail in the battle to win the Republican nomination is undoubtedly tough, we have three clear front runners and we shall focus our analysis on them.
Heading the betting right now is Jeb Bush, the 62-year-old former Governor of Florida, whose real name is John, "Jeb" coming from his initials (his middle name is Ellis). Priced at betting odds of 2/1 with William Hill, the brother of George W. Bush and son of George H. W. Bush, is well-fancied to make it all the way. With a fund worth around $100m behind his campaign, he won't want for money, and given his family background, low taxation stance and relatively controversy-free campaign, we feel odds of 2/1 are very solid value.
His chief opponent is equally not likely to be troubled financially by the Republican campaign, with former Apprentice supremo Donald Trump priced at odds of 4/1 with Sky Bet. Trump is something of a Marmite figure and his confrontational style puts many off, whilst there are persistent claims of racism and sexism. These claims are not helped by actions such as Trump's recent laughing off of a supporter's claims that Barrack Obama was a Muslim, nor his refusal to acknowledge that the incumbent President was born in the USA.
Many view Trump as a laughing stock and it's hard to see how he would represent America on the world stage, although his business success and many of his views sit well with much of the US population away from the major cities.
Third in the betting to become the Republican Party's Presidential candidate is Floridian Senator Marco Rubio. The Cuban American is considerably younger than his main opponents and at the age of 44 is more likely to appeal to a younger demographic. Perhaps not the first choice of many within the Republican Party, Rubio is making steady progress and his energy and eloquence, plus the fact he has few enemies, could see him spring a surprise.
Rubio is priced at betting odds of 11/2 with Bet365 and if Trump continues to court controversy and fall foul of the media, Rubio could cash in. The Republican candidate will be decided at the 2016 Republican National Convention in July next year and the moderates within the Party could well favour Rubio if they perceive the public isn't keen on a third Bush being President so soon after the previous two.
Overall we are predicting the GOP will choose to try and make it a hat-trick for the Bush dynasty though. Whilst there may be other contenders, including Carly Fiorina and Scott Walker, both available around the 12/1 mark, Bush's experience, financial muscle and some interesting policy ideas mean that odds of 2/1 look like excellent value and as such our betting tip for the Republican candidacy is Bush: Jeb, you're hired!