2026-10-15
8 分钟NPR.
Next month's midterm elections could be the most expensive in history.
Billionaires are largely to blame.
I saw this week that Elon Musk told the New York Times he's given Republican groups almost $300 million since July.
I guess that buys a lot of attack ads.
But Republicans already had a big spending advantage.
By some estimates, they've raised almost twice as much as Democrats for the midterms.
And yet, despite all this money, things aren't looking good for the Republicans.
If you trust the polls, of course.
Right.
But also prediction markets like Kalshi and Polly Market, they think the Democrats are going to win.
This wouldn't be the first time that money doesn't win big.
Case in point, Vice President Kamala Harris far outspent President Trump two years ago.
And, well, we know how that turned out.
Are you saying billionaires can't actually buy elections?
Shockingly, it does seem like their money can't actually buy everything.
But that's still not stopping people or corporations from spending more and more of it on U.S.
Politics.
This is The Indicator from Planet Money.
I'm Waylon Wong, joined by journalist and friend of the show, Maria Aspin.