By Katie Biber and Alex Grieve
Translated by: Aiying
In June, Paradigm conducted its first unique poll of Republican voters to understand their views on cryptocurrencies. The results were clear: Republicans are passionate about financial freedom.
Republican candidates who support cryptocurrency, such as Sam Brown, Dave McCormick and Bernie Moreno, have received strong support from voters. Republicans are firmly opposed to the centralized control ideas advocated by Warren-Gensler, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), unbanking and forcing all financial transactions to go through large banks.
Republicans, by and large, understand the appeal of cryptocurrencies and support congressional action to create clear and predictable rules.
Key Point One: Republicans who own cryptocurrency are younger and more likely to be minorities than typical Republicans, which are exactly the votes Trump needs in this election.
The survey shows that 28% of Republicans currently own or have purchased cryptocurrency, which is higher than the 19% national average for registered voters we found in March 2024.
But deeper data shows:
41% of non-white Republicans have purchased or owned cryptocurrency, just 11 percentage points lower than the 52% who trade stocks.
87% of Republicans who own cryptocurrency say they plan to buy more cryptocurrency in the next 12 months, while 13% of Republicans who currently own no cryptocurrency say they may buy cryptocurrency for the first time in the next 12 months.
Cryptocurrency is most popular among Republicans under 40. 45% have bought or own cryptocurrency.
Many Republican crypto holders hold large amounts of crypto:
58% of Republican crypto holders hold more than $1,000 in crypto
40% of Republican Crypto Holders Hold More Than $5,000 in Crypto
Point 2: Republicans distrust institutions and seek the freedom brought by cryptocurrencies
As the Biden administration and its allies continue to use banking regulations as a tool, Republican voters have a fundamental lack of trust in financial institutions.
67% of Republicans say they are dissatisfied with the current U.S. financial system
72% of Republican voters have some concern about losing control of their wealth because of their political or religious views
84% of Republicans believe Americans should have the right to transfer money to others without going through a big bank
Point 3: Republicans want Congress to address the lack of clarity in cryptocurrency regulation
Republicans want Congress to take action to address the lack of clarity in cryptocurrency regulation, and they agree that elected representatives, not unelected bureaucrats, should set the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
60% believe Congress should pass legislation to establish clear and predictable rules for cryptocurrency companies and entrepreneurs. More Republican voters believe that the development of cryptocurrency regulation should be led by elected representatives in Congress (40%) rather than unelected appointees to government agencies (16%).
Point 4: Republicans are concerned about financial privacy
Republicans oppose any IRS intrusion into privacy or surveillance of private financial transactions, which will be driven by the DeFi portion of the upcoming IRS digital asset broker rules. They also strongly oppose the creation of a government-tracked central bank digital currency (CBDC).
94% of Republicans believe their financial transactions should remain private .
Among Republican voters who say they understand what a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is, 68% oppose its creation.
Point 5: Cryptocurrency helped convince “Never Trump” Republicans to vote for him and gained more popularity
As Trump consolidates his support among Republican voters and prepares to enter the general election, cryptocurrency has become an issue that could help him win over the Republican base.
13% of Republicans who currently do not plan to vote for Trump said Trump’s recent stance on cryptocurrency made them more likely to vote for him. 38% of non-white Republican Trump supporters said Trump’s support for cryptocurrency made them more excited about voting for him.
Point 6: Republicans are generally positive about cryptocurrencies
More Republicans believe cryptocurrencies are generally positive for the economy (36%) than negative (30%)
The chart shows:
Overall, 40% of Republicans support it, 31% oppose it and 28% are unsure.
Among men, 52% supported it, 28% opposed it, and 20% were unsure.
Among women, 28% supported it, 35% opposed it, and 37% were unsure.
Among college-educated Republicans, 49% support it, 23% oppose it and 28% are unsure.
Among non-college-educated Republicans, 35% support it, 36% oppose it and 28% are unsure.
After learning that China is developing a digital yuan, more Republicans support (40%) the U.S. government creating competing products (such as stablecoins) for private companies to counter the digital yuan, while 31% oppose it. Among them, men (52%) and college-educated Republicans (49%) have the highest support for this competitive path.
The above poll was conducted by Echelon Insights. The survey was conducted online in English nationwide from June 11 to 13, 2024, with a sample of 1,025 Republican voters among likely voters, using a non-probability sampling method. The sample came from the Lucid sample exchange platform and was matched with the L2 voter file. 500 people were invited to participate in the web survey via SMS and 525 people were surveyed by phone. The margin of error is 3.5%.
