New Survey Shows Half of US Voters Believe Crypto an Important Election Issue

A survey of American voters commissioned by Consensys — the blockchain software company behind MetaMask — has found that just under half of US voters believe that supporting pro-crypto policies is important in a political candidate.

The research, which was conducted by HarrisX (no, not that Harris), also found that 92% of crypto owners plan to vote in the presidential election. That makes our US crypto bro, degen and HODLer cousins an important, and potentially election-determining voting bloc.

Consensys said it commissioned the research as part of its ongoing efforts to pressure US politicians to provide some regulatory clarity for the digital assets industry. 

Like many countries (including Australia) the US currently lacks crypto-specific legislation. This legislative vacuum in the US has been filled by an overzealous regulator in the form of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whose ‘regulation through enforcement’ crusade has hampered the industry’s development in the US for years now.

Related: Kamala Harris Promises to Make US “Dominant in Blockchain”

Survey Tells a Story of Crypto’s Growing Political Importance

The survey sampled several populations of US voters — the largest was a “geographically representative” group of 1,664 registered voters from across the US. The researchers also sampled several smaller groups from the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Texas. The survey was conducted between September 4 and September 14, 2024.

Dritan Nesho, the Founder and CEO of HarrisX, said that in every state polled, the number of “crypto motivated voters” is larger than the margin of victory in the last presidential election. Nesho added that this finding signals the growing political importance of crypto:

The crypto industry is mature and crypto voters are now an important, engaged, and motivated electorate advocating for the protection and growth of digital assets and related innovations.

Dritan Nesho, HarrisX Founder and CEO

Perhaps surprisingly, 49% of all respondents said they think it’s important for a political candidate to support pro-crypto policies. 

These kinds of numbers might suggest to you that the Republicans are set for a landslide victory, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Despite Trump’s very aggressive courting of the crypto vote, only slightly more voters said they trust the Republicans on crypto (35%) than the Democrats (32%) — almost a third (26%) said they still don’t know who they can trust on crypto. 

Having said that, 56% of voters did say they were “excited” by Trump’s huge talk on crypto. Hopefully these voters aren’t quite excited enough to lose all sense of reason and FOMO into the Trump family’s latest crypto venture, World Liberty Financial though.

The survey also found 40% of voters would consider switching sides if the candidate from their usually non-preferred party expressed pro-crypto views.

Other Key Findings from The Survey

The survey also looked at rates of crypto ownership, finding 19% of US voters currently own crypto. Far and away the most commonly owned cryptocurrency was Bitcoin at 13%, followed by Ethereum at 5% and Solana at 3%. About a third of respondents said they plan on buying crypto in the next 12 months.

Another key finding was that a lot of American voters aren’t happy with the state of crypto regulation. Forty percent of the polled voters said they believe the US is behind other countries on regulation, with only 25% saying it’s leading on regulation. 

Consensys CEO and founder, Joe Lubin, said the US has lacked real regulation of the crypto sector for too long, and the survey shows voters, as well as industry, are keen for this to be addressed: 

We’ve been operating under a cloud of uncertainty for too long, and the results of this poll show that crypto is a bipartisan issue, with voters also calling for clarity and a pro-crypto stance.

Joe Lubin, CEO and Founder of Consensys

Related: US Federal Judge Grills SEC Over Refusal to Define Simple Questions About BTC, ETH

In addition to implementing a more crypto-friendly regulatory framework, respondents also pointed to key areas they think need to improve for crypto to achieve more widespread adoption, these included:

1. Enhancing consumer and fraud protection.
2. Providing greater access to information about how crypto is regulated.
3. Simplifying user experience of web3 apps and software.
4. Clarifying regulations and their implications for developers and users.
5. Improving transparency across all areas of the industry.