Trump’s New Crypto Enthusiasm Could Help Him Win More Votes: Poll

Former President Donald Trump’s recent embrace of cryptocurrency after his long-standing skepticism may win him some votes among reluctant Republicans as he seeks a return to the White House in November, according to an industry-sponsored poll released on Wednesday.

His party’s presumptive nominee for president, Trump made a series of positive remarks about aiding the U.S. crypto sector that has caught the attention of some voters, the poll paid for by crypto investment firm Paradigm indicated. The snapshot of Republican sentiment suggested 13% of those who weren’t planning on voting for him felt his crypto position made them see him in a more positive light, according to the data compiled by polling firm Echelon Insights.

Most of those surveyed (60%) believe Congress needs to come up with regulations for crypto businesses, the polling suggested, and the Republicans generally don’t like how today’s financial system operates.

“Republicans understand the appeal of crypto and support congressional action to establish clear and predictable rules,” Katie Biber, Paradigm’s chief legal officer, and Alex Grieve, the company’s government affairs lead, wrote in an analysis of the data.

The poll of more than a thousand likely GOP voters was conducted in mid-June, well before the televised debate that threw the race between Trump and President Joe Biden into some turmoil. Trump cruised toward his party’s nomination in this year’s primaries, and the party convention is approaching next week to make it official.

More than one in four of the Republicans polled had dabbled in crypto ownership (28%), and that involvement skewed toward younger, male and non-white demographics.

Those responding almost universally (94%) believe their personal financial records should remain private, and among the smaller subset of people familiar with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), 68% opposed it for the U.S. The results were a bit narrower on whether the U.S. government ought to pave the way for the private sector to produce payment products that can compete with China’s digital yuan: 40% of the people were for it and 31% against.

Polling of voters this year has revealed complicated impressions of crypto. This poll showed slightly more of the Republicans answering the questions had a positive impression of crypto (36%) versus a negative view (30%), but the 3.5% margin of error leaves some uncertainty in those levels.

A Harris Poll survey released in May suggested fewer than one in three – 31% – of voters in a handful of key swing states had a positive take on crypto. A separate Harris Poll questioning a wider pool of likely U.S. voters released later that month showed a third of the electorate saying they’ll weigh candidates’ crypto positions when they’re making a decision on whether to support them. So, crypto may be emerging as one deciding factor for voters, though their sentiments aren’t universally in favor of the industry.

Republican leaders seem to have received the message of voters favoring cryptocurrency, and the Republican National Committee announced earlier this week that it was including digital assets support in the party platform.

Trump remains in a very close race against President Joe Biden, according to national presidential polling, though Trump’s slight edge grew after the CNN debate in which Biden was perceived as delivering a poor and halting performance.

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