The fundamentals of betting on politics are pretty simple. There are usually just two types of bets, being the straight up bet and the money line bet. Generally bookmakers will only offer these two types of bets.
Straight Up Bet: This is the most popular type of bet when gambling on politics and elections. It is usually used specifically on placing a bet for a specific candidate to win an election. In this type of bet you will be given a set of odds for each candidate to win and you have to choose your desired candidate before the election begins.
Example: If Donald Trump has 2:1 odds of being the next U.S. President, you would receive 2 AUD for every 1 AUD that you bet. Also, if Hillary Clinton has 1.5:1 odds of being the next U.S. President, you would receive 1.5 AUD for every 1 AUD that you bet.
Money Line Bet: In a money line bet you are gambling on the margin of victory of your candidate. An example of this is if you wager that your candidate will win with 60% of the vote or more. You can also make bets on if your chosen candidate will win a specific state or region.