With just one week to go until the election, the presidential race appears to remain close and arguments could be made by either side for why they believe their preferred candidate is poised for victory next Tuesday.

There is at least one renowned expert who thinks that former President Donald Trump will not only defeat Vice President Kamala Harris, however, but has also predicted that Trump's Republican Party will win control of both the House and Senate in Congress, the New York Post reported.

That expert is French economist Christophe Barraud, who has been dubbed the "world’s most accurate economist" by Bloomberg News for most of the past dozen years because of his often correct and prescient economic forecasts and political predictions.

Noted economist predicts "Trump victory" and "GOP clean sweep" of Congress

The Post noted that Barraud shared his view of the most likely outcome of the U.S. 2024 elections in an X post on Monday, which included a victory by former President Trump over VP Harris as well as a "clean sweep" for Republicans in Congress.

Barraud posted, "Looking at different metrics such as betting markets, polls, election modelers' forecasts, financial markets, as of now, the most probable outcomes are: 1) #Trump victory 2) #GOP clean sweep."

The comments in response to the famed economist's political prediction was an interesting mashup of Trump supporters who agreed with his estimate versus Harris supporters who angrily denied and rejected his educated and informed guess on how the elections might turn out.

What will different outcomes mean for the economy?

The Post noted that Barraud spoke with Business Insider about his 2024 election outlook and explained that, at least initially, the U.S. economy would likely do fine under either the Republican or Democratic presidential nominee, though the future outlook was far better -- albeit also more vulnerable -- under a Trump presidency versus Harris being in charge.

If either candidate wins and the opposing party gets control of one or both chambers of Congress, the economist predicted that the current status quo would likely continue for the economy, given that the president's agenda would undoubtedly be stymied and limited.

Yet, if Trump wins and Republicans gain complete control of Congress, Barraud foresees a substantial boost to the U.S. economy and gross domestic product. However, he tempered that optimistic view with a warning about the real potential for an exploding federal deficit and national debt if Trump and Republicans slash taxes without also reining in federal spending by similar amounts.

The Post also highlighted how Barraud stands out for his confidence in predicting the outcome of the 2024 elections in comparison to other notable "experts" with better-than-average track records of election predictions in recent cycles.

For example, the so-called "Nostradamus" of U.S. elections, historian Dr. Allan Lichtman, who has correctly predicted nine of the past 10 elections, has claimed that VP Harris is set to win big, even as all of his predictive "keys" point to a Trump victory. Meanwhile, famed polling statistician Nate Silver, formerly of 538, has said that his "gut" and informed intuition point to Trump pulling off the win in November.

Polling points to a Trump victory

According to RealClearPolling's average of national polls, former President Trump currently leads VP Harris by just 0.4 points, which is within the margin of error and obviously doesn't sound like much.

Yet, when one considers how polls have historically underestimated Trump's support and compare the current race to the past two election cycles at the same point roughly one week out -- barely victorious President Joe Biden led by 7.4 points in 2020 and failed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was up by 4.6 points in 2016 -- it seems apparent that Trump is likely further ahead of Harris than the polls indicate.

That is further bolstered by the fact that RCP shows Trump is leading Harris in nearly all of the important battleground states that typically decide modern elections -- several of which Trump managed to win in 2020 and 2016 despite the polls showing Biden and Harris with substantial leads.