San Jose Mayor Mahan trails gubernatorial polls, but fares better in prediction markets

TRADITIONAL POLLING puts San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan toward the back of the pack in the race for California governor. But online gambling markets are betting bigger on his success.

While polls by Emerson College, UC Berkeley and the Public Policy Institute of California have all put Mahan under 5% favorability in the race, the largest betting pools on Kalshi and Polymarket have put him above bigger names such as former Congresswoman Katie Porter and billionaire Tom Steyer. That’s despite the fact that Steyer and Porter have fared better than Mahan in polls.