A new report suggests that, in key swing states, more voters hold digital assets than a union membership.
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Web3 could be a key issue for voters in swing states during the midterm elections next month, according to a new report.
Haun Ventures has published new research that suggests 90% of voters "express support for an internet that is community owned, community governed, and gives people greater control over their information."
Interestingly, the data suggests that Americans may be less likely to back a politician if they're seen to be standing in the way of a decentralized internet.
Likely voters in four key states — Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania — were polled for this research. And while those who have a keen interest in this new technology lean slightly Democratic, Web3 is being described as a bipartisan issue.
As the report notes, debate over the regulation of cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance and Web 3 crypto coins are likely to play a more prominent role in the next Congress — especially following Joe Biden's executive order on digital assets early this year.
One especially attention-grabbing statistic is this: 18% of all voters in these swing states currently hold crypto of some kind, and 5% own non-fungible tokens.
"To put that number in perspective, there are now far more people in each of these swing states that hold digital assets than a union membership."
Haun Ventures argues that crypto policy is going to be of greater interest to the public as time goes on — and warns the current adoption curve means "this is as likely as small as the Web3 voter bloc will ever be."
Overall, 55% said they would be less likely to vote for candidates who are against rules and regulations that foster the development of Web3 — and voters in New Hampshire feel the most strongly about this.
Across the four swing states, 75% said big tech companies "have too much power over people's lives" — and of those who own digital assets, 72% said it is because they want a more fair and democratized economic system.
Web3 supporters are also likely to be younger and more diverse than the typical swing state voter — and 80% of them have incomes under $100,000.
Morning Consult polled 800 likely voters on behalf of Haun Ventures in the middle of September. The report's authors said:
"As we head into a new chapter for the space — a moment in which a myriad of new use cases beyond finance are emerging — it is the other two branches of government, the legislative and the judiciary, that will feature prominently in whether or not the United States remains a global leader in technology and innovation."
Recent months have seen a number of crypto heavyweights take a step back from high-powered CEO roles in order to focus on advocacy. Michael Saylor is now executive chairman of MicroStrategy, while Jesse Powell will become Kraken's president after 11 years at the helm.
Several senators — Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand as notable examples — have been banging the drum for digital assets in Congress. But the number of politicians actively campaigning on this issue remains relatively low.
At the Bitcoin 2022 conference, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez called for the next president of the United States to be "pro-Bitcoin" — paving the way for this cryptocurrency to be integrated into every aspect of society.
