The new poll also found that independent voters were more likely to own crypto than either Republicans or Democrats.
Paradigm’s polling found a distrust of legacy financial systems across party lines.
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Posted March 14, 2024 at 7:02 pm EST.
A new poll conducted by crypto-focused venture capital firm Paradigm has found that owners of crypto assets have flipped their support from President Joe Biden to former president Donald Trump over the past four years.
Of the overall electorate, 45% of registered voters plan to vote for Trump and 42% intend to vote for Biden. Among voters who own crypto, however, Trump’s support expands to 48% while Biden’s drops to 39%. This is a significant shift from 2020, when crypto owners favored Biden over Trump, 43% to 39%.
1 in 5 Voters Have Owned Crypto
The poll, which was conducted between Feb. 28 and March 4 among 1,000 registered voters, showed that 69% of registered voters considered themselves at least somewhat dissatisfied with the current financial system, highlighting a key area of potential disruption to both political and financial institutions.
Regarding crypto holdings, Paradigm’s survey found that only 7% of registered voters reported holdings worth more than $1,000, and only 1% reported owning more than $10,000 worth of crypto.
Read more: Donald Trump, NFT Star, Softens Bitcoin Stance
Nevertheless, 19% of respondents claimed to have previously bought at least one crypto asset. Notably, independent voters were more likely to own crypto than voters in either traditional party, with 24% reporting that they had owned crypto compared to 19% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans. 49% of those polled said they trusted neither party regarding their crypto stance.
Response to Crackdown?
Government oversight of the crypto industry has amplified in recent years, especially at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Since 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has intensified its enforcement actions, targeting major cryptocurrency firms such as Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase. Critics argue that the SEC’s approach is overly aggressive, a sentiment echoed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, who has emerged as a vocal dissenter within the commission.
Paradigm articulates this concern directly, writing: “It appears some of the voters President Biden is now losing to Trump are owners of crypto, possibly because of actions taken by some agencies in the Biden Administration.”
Despite criticism, the SEC recently approved 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for trading. This move came after a prolonged legal battle with one of the applicants, Grayscale, marking an end to years of regulatory stalling.
