Support for tough anti-fraud rules is overwhelming and bipartisan, and it survives the industry’s best arguments. 89% of Democrats say they’d be less likely to back a candidate who lets Trump and his family profit from a crypto law.
WASHINGTON (July 8, 2026)— Days after a federal disclosure filing revealed that President Trump personally took in roughly $1.2 billion from crypto ventures last year, a new national survey from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and Democratic polling firm GBAO shows voters want the industry, and the officials cashing in on it, reined in.
The filing, analyzed by the Associated Press, shows Trump collected more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial token sales and over $600 million from “meme” coins stamped with his face, even as the ordinary investors who bought in were left holding the losses. World Liberty’s tokens have fallen roughly 80%, and the meme coin has collapsed from a peak above $74 to under $2. Trump built that windfall while his own administration dismantled the Biden-era crackdown on the very industry enriching him. Asked about it, the president shrugged: “We’re all profiting.”
Voters see the arrangement for what it is, and the poll shows they want it stopped.
The numbers are lopsided. Voters view crypto unfavorably by more than 3-to-1 (57% to 17%), and crypto companies fare no better (55% to 19%). The hostility runs across the spectrum and is sharpest among Democrats, 69% of whom view crypto unfavorably. Voters reserve their trust for Main Street institutions instead: community banks are seen favorably 62% to 10%. And with the cost of living dominating, crypto barely registers as a concern; fewer than 1% name promoting it as a top priority for Congress, against 45% who name inflation.
That skepticism translates into demand for guardrails, on a striking bipartisan basis:
Crucially, this support is durable. After a balanced back-and-forth weighing the strongest arguments on both sides, the backing held firm. Support for walling officials off from crypto profits actually rose from 71% to 75%, while the transaction-reporting requirement held at 80%.
Even after voters heard President Trump was defended as a successful businessman, a 66% majority, including 55% of Republicans, still wanted officials barred from profiting off crypto.
The electoral implications are hard to miss: against the backdrop of Trump’s $1.2 billion windfall, 89% of Democrats say they’d be less likely to support a candidate who backed a crypto law that lets Trump and his family profit, including 74% of Democrats currently undecided in the 2026 generic ballot, exactly the voters in play.
“Voters have watched the President turn the office into a crypto cash machine while regulating the very industry enriching him, and they want it to stop,” said economist Paul Weinstein Jr, PPI Senior Fellow and Board Member. “They want crypto playing by the same anti-fraud rules as everyone else, and they will hold candidates accountable for any law that lets the President’s family cash in at the public’s expense.”
The full polling memo is available here.
Based on a national survey of 1,000 likely voters, including an 800-person representative sample with a Democratic oversample (532 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents) weighted to the 2026 likely-voter electorate. Conducted May 22–28, 2026, by telephone with live interviewers and text-to-online.
Founded in 1989, PPI is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Find an expert and learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Follow us at @ppi.
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Media Contact: Ian O’Keefe – iokeefe@ppionline.org
