The cryptocurrency industry is spending heavily on next week's U.S. midterm elections, but a new survey suggests most American voters are not placing the sector near the top of their priorities. The findings arrive one week before voters head to the polls, with control of Congress at stake.

Crypto groups have funneled roughly $176 million into more than 100 midterm races this cycle, according to a Reuters review. Yet only 13% of Americans say it is extremely or very important that a political candidate supports the growth of emerging financial technologies such as blockchain, crypto and decentralized finance. That finding comes from a survey conducted by Ipsos for the DeFi Education Fund, a crypto policy advocacy group that has published its key data.

A broader pitch resonated more with respondents. About 35% say it is very important that candidates ensure those building the next generation of financial technology are encouraged to do so in the United States — the top-ranked policy position in the survey. Just 26% said the same about supporting new rules that allow innovation in the financial system.

The DeFi Education Fund describes the results as “bipartisan support for U.S. innovation.” The narrower crypto-specific question shows little partisan gap, with 15% of Republicans and 13% of Democrats rating it very important. On the top-ranked item, however, Republicans led Democrats 45% to 30%. Party identification figures include independents who lean toward a party.

The survey polled 1,545 adults from Sept. 8 to 16 on Ipsos' KnowledgePanel, the probability-based panel the Federal Reserve uses for its household finance survey, and carried a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

The industry's political outlay tells a different story from voters' stated priorities. The super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates accounted for about $150.8 million of the sector's midterm spending through Oct. 20 — more than 85% of the total, leaving the cycle's closing stretch uncounted — per the Reuters review. One Fairshake affiliate has disclosed more than $46 million in spending against former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio's Senate race.

The stakes are high for the industry after the Clarity Act, which would have set federal rules for crypto markets, failed a key Senate vote in September amid disputes over ethics provisions covering President Donald Trump's crypto interests. Since then, the industry has turned to regulators such as the SEC and CFTC to write the rules instead. Any future attempt to pass market-structure legislation would go through the Congress chosen next week, leaving the SEC and CFTC to keep writing the rules in the meantime.

The survey suggests voters care more about security and control than about crypto itself. Some 63% say the financial system needs an upgrade to combat threats like AI and cybercrime, and 49% say the government should not decide which products they can invest in.