While most polls point to Hillary Clinton defeating Donald Trump in the presidential election, the Democrat faces an uphill battle to stimulate the US economy in the short run because the Republican Party is likely to tighten its grip on other offices, a local economist says.
"If she [Mrs Clinton] wins the election, the financial markets might be stable in the short term, but it will be hard for her government to deliver policies because the Republicans will be securing a majority in both houses of the Congress," said Amornthep Chawla, head of research at CIMB Thai Bank.
"I think people are paying less attention to the election of the two houses of the Congress, which is very important to policies issued by both candidates."
In the case of Mrs Clinton winning the election, the US economy will improve next year but not at a fast clip, Mr Amornthep said.
In his view, Mr Trump would be more successful in stimulating the economy in the short run because it would be easier for him to deliver on policies backed by a Republican-led congress.
"Also, one of the policies promised by Mr Trump is lower income taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and that should trickle down through the economy by increasing the wages of workers and employees," Mr Amornthep said.
But a win for Mr Trump could be a double-edged sword for the world's largest economy in the long run, as the Republican-led Congress might enact a batch of stimulus measures that could inflate bubbles in market.
The great challenge for both candidates is the high and rising US public debt.
"The US public debt is currently at around 77% of the GDP, and the ratio is expected to keep rising in the next 10 years to 86% if Mrs Clinton wins the White House and 105% if Mr Trump wins," Mr Amornthep said.
Both scenarios would raise the public debt to its legal limit by next March, just two months after the new president's inauguration.
If Mr Trump pulls off a win, investors in financial markets will turn risk-averse and seek safe-haven assets such as the US dollar, the Japanese yen and gold, Mr Amornthep said.
But capital is expected to flow into riskier assets in Asia, with the baht then poised to solidify in the near term if Mrs Clinton wins.
"We think these fluctuations will only persist for a short period because the market will pay more attention to a possible Fed rate hike, which is expected to happen at the end of this year," Mr Amornthep said.