Shraddha Sharma
Reports indicate that Kamala Harris has received private backing from influential figures like Bill Gates and Jamie Dimon. While Harris has gained more support recently, the betting market odds still favor Donald Trump.
However, a large bet on Harris improved her chances of winning by 3% on Polymarket. Who are these secret backers?
Kamala Harris receives Bill Gates’s support
Funding going into the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign shows she has a strong supporter base. The betting market equivalent comes from the Polymarket bets, which made Harris the popular vote winner.
Recently, reports revealed that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates privately donated $50m to a non-profit organization backing Kamala Harris. Notably, Gates has not publicly endorsed Harris and the donation was supposedly a private endorsement.
According to reports, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also privately supports Harris. Considering his bank is one of the largest investment banks globally and has a substantial presence in the US market, Dimon would want to keep his endorsement under wraps. So, any financial contribution made by him or the private bank is unknown.
A set of Republicans are also publicly backing Harris over their own Donald Trump. Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney said that she would vote for Harris as she cares about the Constitution as a conservative. Anthony Scaramucci and Olivia Troye, both former Trump administration officials, also support the Democratic nominee.
Polymarket’s $2m bet improved odds on Tuesday
In October 2024, a user with the name Ly67890 entered the Polymarket betting market. On Tuesday, the user reportedly made a bold prediction in favor of Harris. That bet went on to improve her odds of winning the election by around 3%.
At press time, the Trump-Harris winning prediction is 3:2 on Polymarket. Ly67890 is holding a position of over $2 million with 5,405,172 shares purchased at an average price of 37¢ per share and a current price of 39¢. The better is in a profit with about 6% gains.
Influencer Nic Carter recently pointed out that betting markets like Polymarket give Trump better chances of winning. On the other hand, media experts and their models believe that Harris has better odds. His observation suggests that Harris might look like a value investment not indicated by betting odds.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Polymarket creators are double-checking the user details to make sure they are betting from outside the US. This is happening on the back of trading restrictions in the US.
