The betting markets are still showing former president Donald Trump with a lead in the race for the White House.
With less than a week left to go until election day, Trump's lead on Polymarket is 64% to 36% against Vice President Kamala Harris. His lead on Kalshi has slightly dropped down to 57-43 against Harris. It was as high as 64% for Trump a few days ago on that platform.
When looking at the different betting markets, Trump has been shown with leads in a majority of the swing states too. Harris is still the favorite to win the popular vote although the margin is much closer than previous elections.
Political and economic analyst Jake Novak said the betting markets are a good tool to look at and see what regular people with real money believe will happen in the election.
"The people who are putting money on it could still be wrong, they can absolutely be wrong, but they're much less likely to have another reason to tell you something," said Novak.
In other words, people don't bet against themselves. The ones with skin in the game are backing Trump to win the presidency.
Novak said there could be as much as $6 billion wagered on the presidential election this year. The betting culture in the U.S. is very relevant and the access people have to make wagers on just about anything, not just sports, is becoming easier with being able to conveniently pull out your phone and make a bet in most states.
"You can't turn on the radio or the TV right now without seeing a lot of ads for betting sites," Novak said.
Novak does expect the betting percentages to narrow between Trump and Harris in the final days leading up to the election, especially in swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, which are currently heavy favorites to go to Trump.
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