Donald Trump has fans among the crypto community, with 48% of crypto owners planning to vote for the former president compared to 39% who plan to vote for U.S. President Joe Biden. The figures are from a poll of 1,000 registered voters commissioned by leading crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, which released the results on Thursday.
The poll was conducted nationally by Virginia-based Public Opinion Strategies between Feb. 28 and March 4, while Bitcoin was on the upswing from $58,000 to $68,000—setting an all-time high.
Without a crypto-holding lens, Paradigm notes that its poll reflected numbers that mirror those of other established polling firms: 45% of all registered voters favoring Trump over 42% backing Biden.
“Americans don’t trust either party when it comes to crypto,” the firm noted. “49% of voters trust neither party on crypto, including 40% of Democrats and 30% of Republicans.”
The GOP has elevated crypto to a higher position on its national platform than Democrats thanks to the debate over central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), something Trump has vowed to kill if he is elected in November. Congressional Republicans have tried to enact a ban on a U.S. CBDC, a possibility that regained strength today with the revelation that the Federal Reserve considers a CBDC to be among its top responsibilities.
Paradigm says its poll also shows that crypto holders are no longer a niche or fringe constituency.
”Crypto holders make up a good percentage of the current voting bloc, and it’s time elected officials take notice," the firm asserted, pointing to poll results indicating 19% of voters own or use cryptocurrencies and an additional 16% who say they are likely to invest in digital assets.
“Crypto owners are themselves a swing vote demographic, one that could be decisive if the election is yet another razor-thin race," reads Paradigm's analysis.
The report goes on to note that crypto is an issue that may have already moved the needle compared to the last match up between Biden and Trump.
“Among crypto owners, 43% recall voting for President Biden in 2020 and just 39% of crypto voters recall voting for former President Trump that year,” Paradigm observes. “So 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.”
While those actions aren't specified, they could include the long-running campaign against the sale of “unregistered securities” by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and statements by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that digital assets pose a threat to the nation's financial markets. Biden's senior advisors have also called for more regulation of cryptocurrency.
Paradigm's poll also reveals shifts in the demographics of cryptocurrency holders.
“Ownership of crypto is even higher among communities of color and among the young,” the report notes, revealing that 33% of African Americans and 32% of Hispanics “currently own, have traded, or used cryptocurrency in 2024.” Those figures were 20% and 22% last year.
“There has been much commentary about the shifting electoral preferences of young voters and nonwhite voters," Paradigm concluded. “It is clear that one thing these groups care about is how policymakers will approach crypto.”
The poll was conducted recently enough to capture some of the market frenzy over spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have been credited with fueling much of the recent bull run. While 6% of voters say they have invested in crypto ETFs and another 6% say they plan to do so, 22% more say they might buy into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
”Americans have noticed the option to buy Bitcoin spot ETFs in a big way," the report states. “Spot crypto ETFs are, as expected, proving to be a major vehicle onboarding Americans into crypto, and may end up being a step to direct crypto ownership.”
The poll has a margin of error of 3.5%.