60% of Americans Think Crypto Should Be Treated as Fiat in Political Campaign

[Mercury]

A new survey by blockchain-oriented research firm Clovr showed that 60 percent of respondents think that cryptocurrency should be treated like fiat currency in political elections.

In the course of its research, Clovr surveyed 1,023 eligible voters registered in the U.S. for their understanding of what impact virtual currency could exert on the political process. Per the survey, almost 60 percent of the voters surveyed answered that crypto and the U.S. dollar should be treated the same, while only 21 percent of respondents said the opposite.

“60 percent of eligible voters believed that it should be legal to donate cryptocurrency in federal elections under the same rules that apply to donations in U.S. dollars.”

63 percent of the voters identifying as Republicans assumed that crypto was secure enough to be deployed for political purposes, and 52 percent of Democrats suggested the same. In regards to Independent voters, only 45 percent were reportedly comfortable with donations in crypto.

73 percent of respondents who were aware of digital currencies believed security was not an issue for political donations, while 23 percent expressed concern.

When asked about financial stability issues with crypto in politics, slightly more than half of Republicans — 52 percent — said that crypto was stable enough, while Democrats and Independents came in at 40 and 35 percent respectively.

Per the survey, 25 percent of the participants stated that they would be more likely to make a contribution to political campaigns if crypto donations were an option. More than 20 percent of Republicans expressed their wish to contribute more substantial amounts if crypto was an option. 16 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Independents stated the same, respectively.

Regarding concerns over whether crypto in political campaigns would increase foreign interference in U.S. elections, 60 percent answered in the affirmative, wherein Democrats showed more concern than the other groups.

Per the survey, 62 percent of respondents think that crypto donations could be used illegally in the U.S. political system. On this issue, all three groups showed similar results, with 64 percent of Independents, 62 percent of Republicans, and 61 percent of Democrats answering in the affirmative. 60 percent of respondents expressed concern over politician and party misuse of crypto donations.

Last year, the Campaign Finance Task Force issued released a report dubbed “Public attitudes and campaign finance,” devoted to the role of money in the political system. According to the report, the public overall is “woefully” misinformed about campaign finance law, revealing that only four percent of Americans knew that corporations cannot contribute directly to the campaigns of candidates for president and Congress.

The same survey found that “nearly 90% of respondents answered less than three of five factual questions correctly.” Respondents reportedly believed that the amounts of House of Representatives campaign contributions are $5.8 million on average, while the statistics show that average spending was $785,000.

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