It only counts if you've said it here first! We've got a reality tv stars vs dear old grandpa vs a candidate who may be well on her way to being indicted vs some other participants who may or may not catch up.
Some people think this is a shoe in. I think it isn't too late for the winds to change direction. This just might be the first election where anything goes.
Call it!
*HILARY CLINTON
*TED CRUZ
*JOHN KASICH
*BERNIE SANDERS
*DONALD TRUMP
As partisan as anyone may be, this is a very good question right now, mostly because Donald Trump, an individual who would not be electable in any other time in history, has a very good shot at a win. If Bernie Sanders gets the nomination, he will beat Trump easily in the general election. There is no real dirt on Sanders, which is going to make smear ads ineffective for the most part. Trump wouldn't be able to launch an effective negative ad campaign, and Sanders would also pull a signifcant amount of the discontent vote from Trump, as the more likeable of the two candidates.
However, if Hillary Clinton gets the nomination, the election is going to be much closer, at least in terms of the popular vote (the electoral vote will probably have a significant spread). Trump appeals to a large population of the rust belt which contains several huge swing states. He demonstrated his ability to capture votes in probably his toughest terrain in Indiana when he resoundly beat Ted Cruz and his fundamentalist platform.
Trump's biggest and most insurmountable problem is with his approval rating among women, who disfavor him by about 70%. So while he has swing state appeal from a policy perspective, he loses a decisive swing vote with women. Clinton does not gain with women just because she is a woman, although it does help. Trump generally repulses women as a result of years of derogatory comments about various public women.
In the end, a Democrat will be President this year, and because she is the Democrat establishment pick, it will most likely be Hillary Clinton.
Hillary is so tough to predict because her baggage is as big as her advantage being a woman.
The elite have long been preparing us for a woman president, and Hillary in particular. They have used these kinds of biases in the past to get Obama elected by a small margin. The anti-hillary bias is strong and there is a non-0 probability that she will face criminal charges.
Prediction markets say Hillary, but then again I have never been one to side with the market's valuation.
I think perhaps 4 years ago, Hilary was hands down .. primed for office. Her baggage trumps the small advantage of being a woman. All the qualities that women generally love about other women are not quite in Hilary any longer. Still, a close race. Of course, she won't face criminal charges but the smear campaign to come makes that irrelevant.
Trump
Trump