NewsCryptoMost Americans Say Trump's Crypto Profits Cross the Line: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Most Americans Say Trump's Crypto Profits Cross the Line: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Author: Decrypt·

Key Takeaways

  • •Sixty-three percent of respondents said it was inappropriate for Trump and his family to profit from cryptocurrency in the way they have.
  • •Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they believe Trump’s private business interests shape his decisions in office.
  • •About half of Republicans in the survey said Trump allows his business interests to influence his decisions, while roughly seven in 10 Republicans said the family’s crypto dealings were appropriate.
  • •The poll surveyed 1,166 U.S. adults online from August 14 to 17 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
  • •Financial disclosures released earlier this year said Trump earned more than $1.4 billion from crypto ventures, and lawmakers are debating Clarity Act provisions that would limit his crypto activities ahead of a Senate vote next month.
Most Americans Say Trump's Crypto Profits Cross the Line: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

A majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump and his family have improperly cashed in on cryptocurrency since he returned to the White House, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The survey found that 63% of respondents considered it inappropriate for Trump and his family to have profited from crypto in the way they have, while 32% said the dealings were appropriate and the remainder offered no answer, Reuters reported.

An even larger share of respondents—69%—said they believe the president's private business interests are shaping his decisions in office. According to Reuters, that view was shared by two-thirds of independents and nine in 10 Democrats.

Perhaps the most striking finding cut across party lines: roughly half of Trump's fellow Republicans said they think he allows his business interests to sway his decisions—an uncomfortable result for a president who campaigned on draining the swamp. Even so, about seven in 10 Republicans said the family's crypto dealings were appropriate, a split that captures the fault lines the poll exposes inside the president's own coalition.

The online poll surveyed 1,166 U.S. adults between August 14 and 17 and carried a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The results put hard data behind a controversy that has trailed Trump throughout his second term. Financial disclosures released earlier this year showed that the president earned more than $1.4 billion from crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial and his self-branded meme coin—an unusually direct financial stake in an industry whose regulatory rulebook Congress is now debating.

Those figures have fueled repeated Democratic efforts to rein in the president's crypto activity. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has pushed to bar elected officials from launching meme coins, while Senate Democrats have demanded hearings into what they describe as massive presidential crypto profits.

For its part, the White House has rejected any suggestion of impropriety. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that there are no conflicts of interest and that Trump acts only in the public's interest, Reuters reported. The president has maintained that he plays no day-to-day role in the family business and that his investments are independently managed—an arrangement that departs from the practice of modern presidents, who have typically divested holdings or placed them in blind trusts while in office.

The poll lands as the ethics questions collide with policy. Lawmakers remain at odds over provisions in the Clarity Act that would restrict the president's crypto ventures, ahead of a Senate vote next month. That vote will offer the first test of whether the public's unease—and the doubts inside Trump's own party—translate into legislative action.