Who Will Win Time Person Of The Year In 2024?

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are the two favourites with betting sites to be named Time Person of the Year for 2024, although Taylor Swift and Chat GPT are also in the running.

Harris and Trump are squaring up ahead of the 2024 US presidential election – the result of which will have a major impact on global affairs over the coming years.

There’s nothing to split them in the polls and November 5 could become a defining day in Western politics for decades to come.

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Time has named the victorious US presidential election candidate as their Person of the Year in each of the last six election years, stretching back to 1996.

Harris won it in 2020 (alongside president Joe Biden) and Trump claimed the honour in 2016.

And with so much focus on US politics this year, it looks almost certain that one of them will splash the front of Time Magazine for 2024.

It means the likes of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yulia Navalnaya, Taylor Swift and even Artificial Intelligence are likely to miss out this time.

It has been something of a strange year in global politics. The worldwide economy appears to be easing out of the chaos inflicted by Covid-19 but wealth disparity is growing at a time when climate issues are starting to pinch communities around the world.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hasn’t abated and the conflict in Gaza has spread to Lebanon, pulling in wider geopolitical forces.

The world seems to be less stable than it was a few years ago and times of conflict usually lead to political leaders becoming Time Person of the Year nominees.

Harris and Trump, therefore, make sense as the two frontrunners, with Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic Navalnaya and Ukraine president Zelenskyy following after.

Time Person of The Year 2024 Odds

Candidates like pop sensation Swift, Prince William and tech mogul Musk are the sort of figures who could win this award in a non-US election year when there isn’t major conflict in the world.

Swift won the gong in 2023, outside of a US election year. Her Eras Tour has broken new ground in record-breaking entertainment and she even entered the political sphere this year when endorsing Harris and her running-mate Tim Walz.

But that was 2023 and all focus this year is on Harris and Trump. No wonder, then, that the bookies are so confident one of them will win.

Here, we look at some of the leading candidates for Time Person of the Year 2024.

Kamala Harris 

The Democrats looked down and out this summer when Biden’s poll numbers collapsed as he geared up to challenge Trump for the US presidency. They needed to swap him out fast and within a day of Biden’s resignation Harris had already raised $100m in campaign funds for her candidacy.

She became the default Democrat candidate in late summer and has set about eating into Trump’s poll lead. Harris has suddenly become one of the four most talked about people in America (the other three being Trump, Swift and Musk).

Her campaign has brought her level with Trump in the polls and November’s election is now a coin toss. Were Harris to win, it would be considered one of the greatest comebacks from defeat in US political history.

She would be nailed-on to be named Time Person of the Year and is 5/6 favourite with betting apps.

Donald Trump

Similarly, Trump will surely be named Time Person of the Year for 2024 if he wins the US election this autumn. The former president appeared a long way off returning to the White House in the days that followed the January 6 riots.

But Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican party and forced people into line. The GOP is now moulded in Trump’s image, as evidenced by his choice of running mate JD Vance.

Trump has been hugely influential in 2024 despite not even being a frontline politician. He’s survived two assassination attempts, set America’s social agenda on a number of issues and constantly been in the media spotlight.

He remains one of the most influential people on the planet and it’s no wonder he is priced at 10/11 with political betting sites to win the Time gong.

Taylor Swift

The only other candidate named below odds of 10/1 is Swift. The pop mega-star has become a cultural phenomenon since her Eras Tour catapulted her into the consciousness of pretty much everyone on the planet.

Swift’s relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce has only expanded her brand. She was under pressure to declare an allegiance in the 2024 US election and came out in support of Harris this September, which enraged Trump.

But the Swift phenomenon didn’t start in 2024. She’s been at the forefront of pop for well over a decade. It’s the fact Eras was a tour five years in the making that really propelled her fame to new levels.

Swift was named Time Person of the Year for 2023 and was also on the 2017 cover when The Silence Breakers – awarded to those who spoke up during the MeToo movement – were recognised.

She’s 9/1 to win it in 2024, which seems unlikely. And yet she’s still priced ahead of the likes of Musk, Walz, Biden and Beyonce.

Yulia Navalnaya

Yulia Navalnaya is the most vocal critic of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and a major disruptor in the authoritarian regime. The death of her husband Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison back in February threw her into the political spotlight like never before.

Navalnaya has carried the torch since and gathered a growing following that wants to see the end of Putin’s regime and democracy come to Russia.

She was awarded the Woman of Courage Award at October’s Women of the Year ceremony in London and said: “It gives me strength to keep going, to not be afraid, and to not stop.”

Navalnaya would probably be a strong shout for the Time award had it not been a US election year. She is 10/1 on specials betting sites to win it in 2024, but 2025 might see her carry shorter odds.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s president recently set out his “victory plan” for defeating Russia’s occupation of his nation’s territory. If he achieves this next year then he will almost certainly be named Time Person of the Year for a second time.

However, 2024 won't be Zelenskyy’s year. Ukraine has suffered setbacks in its attempts to repel Russian aggression. The president's one big win of the war this year was to enter the Kursk region and hold it as a bargaining chip for any future negotiations.

Zelenskyy needs the war to end next year and his Time odds will likely drop from the 16/1 price he has to win the award in 2024.

He was named Time Person of the Year in 2022 alongside the Spirit of the Ukrainian People, so a second gong isn’t out of the question.