The landscape changed suddenly this week in the two party - two person political cage fight that is a US presidential election campaign in the 21st Century

On the afternoon of Sunday 21 July 2024 President Joe Biden Jr. announced he would not be standing for re-election as U.S. president and endorsed his Vice-President Kamala Harris as a presidential nominee in his place.

Nationwide News, 22 July 2024:

Trump’s chances drop as Democrats rake in millions

Donald Trump’s re-election odds have taken a dip after Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, according to bookmakers.

MarketWatch reports betting websites are giving Trump about a 60 per cent chance of winning the November election.

While still the clear favourite, the former president had previously reported a 65 per chance before Mr Biden’s announcement and 69 per cent chance after his assassination attempt.

Meanwhile, Harris has a 38 per cent chance of winning the race to the White House, the outlet reports.

It comes as Democratic fundraising platform, ActBlue, announced it raised $27.5 million in just five hours after Mr Biden announced his withdrawal and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Small-dollar donors raise over $27.5 million on ActBlue in the first five hours of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Grassroots supporters are energised and excited to support her as the Democratic nominee,” it wrote in a post on X.

Within hours of Biden's announcement AJC Politics released these polling numbers from Georgia:

Thumbnail sketch of who will be voting in November 2024

An est. 224 million Americans will be eligible to vote in November 2024. Around 161 million are registered voters of which est. 49% are Democrats or favour the Democratic Party & est. 47% are Republicans or favour the Republican Party. [Pew Research Centre, online, July 2024]

In 2024 Hispanic, Black and Asian citizens make up only est. 15% of Republican voters and est. 39% of Democrat voters. It appears that historically the majority of those voting at US national elections are "non-Hispanic Whites" over 30 years of age. [ibid]

On past national voter turnout since World War Two it is likely only est. 50-66% of those eligible to vote will actually do so. The fate of 339.8 million men, women and children hangs on the outcome of that vote.