U.S. Poll Finds 22-Percentage-Point Gap in Importance of Candidate Positions

A U.S. survey found a 22-percentage-point gap in how often adults considered candidate support for financial technology development very or extremely important to them, depending on whether the questions named crypto-related technologies.

Thirty-five percent gave that rating when asked about candidates encouraging development of the next generation of financial technology in the United States. The share was 13% when the question named blockchain, cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi). The questions used different wording, so the gap compares responses to two separate framings.

The results do not show how respondents would vote or whether they support a particular proposal. They also do not explain why the crypto-specific question received a lower importance rating.

The poll included 1,545 U.S. adults interviewed Sept. 8-16, 2026. The reported margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points for the full sample and was higher for subgroups.

Twenty-two percent said they had ever owned or used crypto, compared with 18% in the 2025 survey. Thirteen percent reported owning or using it in the prior 12 months, unchanged from the previous survey. The 2025 survey interviewed a separate sample of 1,321 U.S. adults from Aug. 18 to 21.

On the broader financial system, 19% described it as secure, while 63% said it needed an upgrade to address new threats. The DeFi Education Fund, a nonprofit that advocates for DeFi policy, commissioned the survey.