Crypto Owners Can Have Significant Impact on Tight Middle Races: Voting

• Nearly half of likely voters in key battleground states own cryptocurrency or are considering investing in it, according to a new poll.
• The poll, commissioned by a crypto-focused PAC, surveyed voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
• One-third of crypto-owning voters are people of color, compared to one in four of the overall electorate.

People who either own cryptocurrency or are interested in buying it could sway close races in key battleground states, a new poll claims.

And crypto-friendly candidates in races that might only be decided by a percentage point or two will have significant advantages, said Bobby Kaple, senior adviser to GMI PAC, which helped conduct the poll of 1,000 likely voters.

“If you look at these margins, connecting with the crypto voter on crypto issues could unlock just enough support to win one of these tight races,” Kaple said.

Nearly half of likely voters polled in September in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin own cryptocurrency or are considering investing in it. A subset of nearly one in five already owns crypto.

Of those, 45% of respondents said they would vote for or lean toward Democratic candidates, while 44% said they would vote for or lean Republican.

“This core of 17% who already own cryptocurrency is an extremely competitive group of voters that both Democrats and Republicans have fielded in recent elections,” pollsters wrote in a report shared with Insider. “[That] is a significant number in races likely to be decided by small margins.”

Kaple noted that in 2020, President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. In November, more than 800,000 Pennsylvanians who own crypto are expected to vote.

All in all, views on crypto defy bias. Thirty-three percent of Democrats said they have a favorable view of crypto, compared to 30% of Republicans who said the same. On a similar note, a separate Morning Consult survey found that roughly equal shares of Democrats and Republicans say there are too many regulations on crypto.

About a third of voters who own crypto are people of color, compared to a quarter of the total electorate. Kaple said any politician who talks about crypto will have an opportunity to sway voters.

“You have both parties right now locked in a battle to connect with younger black and Hispanic males to influence groups of voters,” he said. “Those two groups own crypto at much higher prices, so connecting with them on these crypto issues could be key to unlocking support and winning these tight races.”

In a separate Pew Research Center survey, about one in five black, Hispanic, or Asian Americans said they invested in, traded, or used crypto, compared to less than one in seven whites who said the same.

Meanwhile, more than half of voters polled said Congress should modernize existing laws to accommodate new technologies like cryptocurrency and other digital assets to ensure companies stay here and keep jobs in the United States.

“What we see from these numbers is that the crypto voter has the ability to reshape the American electorate and how people vote,” Kaple told Insider.

The poll was commissioned by GMI Policy Institute and GMI PAC, an advocacy organization focused on crypto-related issues, and conducted jointly by Global Strategy Group and Fabrizio, Lee & Associates.

The name of the crypto-focused PAC, which launched in January, is a nod to the popular crypto slang “GMI” or “going to make it.”

In a separate Pew Research Center survey, roughly one in five black, Hispanic, or Asian Americans said they invested in, traded, or used crypto, compared to less than one in seven whites who said the same.