ELECTION BETTING BOOM: WILL PREDICTION MARKETS SHAPE AMERICA’S 2026 MIDTERMS? Prediction markets are surging ahead of the 2026 U.S. elections, with platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket attracting growing volumes of political trading. Supporters argue that these markets aggregate information and provide a real-time gauge of voter sentiment, but critics warn that heavy financial activity could distort perceptions of candidates and races. The big test in 2026 will be whether trading merely predicts election outcomes or actually influences them. Officials and regulators are concerned that wealthy traders could manipulate odds, spread misleading signals or undermine confidence in the electoral process. With states and federal regulators still battling over how prediction markets should be governed, the midterms could become a major real-world experiment in whether election betting changes political behavior—and potentially results.