Trump’s lead over Harris widens, but is Polymarket accurate?

As a seasoned crypto investor and political observer with a keen eye for market trends, I find myself intrigued by the dynamics unfolding at Polymarket, particularly the growing lead of Trump over Harris in the U.S. presidential election race. While it’s always enticing to draw conclusions based on such data points, I remain cautious and skeptical.


The gap between Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’ predicted victory odds has expanded on Polymarket, a platform where people can bet on political events.

Currently, Donald Trump appears to have a significant lead in the U.S. presidential election, with approximately an 11% advantage over Kamala Harris, who stands at around 44.1%. This substantial gap is the largest since Harris joined the race, indicating a growing trend of bets on Trump’s likelihood of winning.

In approximately three weeks, Election Day will be here, and both the U.S. presidential contenders are busy on the campaign trail. Last October 5th, while addressing a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump suggested that he might grant clemency to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road platform.

At the gathering, Elon Musk, a known supporter of Donald Trump and the head of Tesla, was present. However, neither Trump nor Musk provided any explicit comments concerning the cryptocurrency sector during the event.

Currently, the probability of Donald Trump winning has reached an unprecedented peak at 54.4%.

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) October 10, 2024

Despite Harris’s previous quietness on cryptocurrency, her recent comments endorsing advancements such as AI and digital currencies have sparked curiosity among crypto enthusiasts.

During this voting period, Polymarket has been drawing attention due to numerous substantial bets being made on current happenings. Polymarket functions as a decentralized platform where individuals can place wagers on actual world events using cryptocurrency.

Yet, the data from Polymarket may not always correspond with public polls, as Harris is demonstrated to lead or maintain competitiveness in certain national surveys, based on reports by The Hill.

Is Polymarket accurate?

As an analyst named Jacob King at WhaleWire, I’ve expressed some reservations regarding the trustworthiness of the predictions made by Polymarket.

In a post on X, King argued that Polymarket’s data may not accurately reflect the U.S. electorate because many crypto bettors lean right politically, skewing the odds in Trump’s favor. 

As a global crypto investor, I’ve found myself excluded from using Polymarket due to its limitation to U.S. citizens only. This restrictive policy not only affects non-U.S. residents like me but also those who use VPNs. This limitation impedes the platform’s potential for accurately measuring genuine American voter sentiment, as it excludes a significant portion of the diverse voices that shape public opinion.

While some people think Trump will prevail in the elections based on his slight edge in wagers on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency betting platform, it’s essential to note that this doesn’t necessarily reflect the overall election results. This is because many crypto bettors tend to favor conservative views. Furthermore, U.S. citizens are prohibited from using the site due to certain regulations.

— Jacob King (@JacobKinge) October 11, 2024

In the United States, Polymarket’s operations are prohibited because of regulatory limitations. This is primarily due to the fact that their prediction markets are seen as unregistered forms of binary options trading, a practice that breaches U.S. securities regulations.

Recently, a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the Kalshi prediction market, overturning a CFTC ban on political event betting in the U.S. However, the CFTC filed an emergency motion to delay the ruling, potentially jeopardizing Kalshi’s future. 

Even though these platforms, such as Polymarket, might be legally permitted in the U.S. following their recent successes, apprehensions remain regarding how they may influence public trust in election outcomes continue to linger.

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2024-10-11 17:06