Exclusive: Voters skeptical of Federal Reserve digital currency, poll finds 

More than half of voters in Senate battleground states oppose a digital currency issued by the Federal Reserve, according to a new poll commissioned by a conservative group.

The new survey comes as the Federal Reserve explores issuing a central bank digital currency sometime in the future, and days after the Biden administration released a series of high-profile reports examining digital assets.

The prominent Republican group Club for Growth commissioned the poll through its political action committee. The conservative organization has taken a recent interest in crypto — The Club for Growth has given more than $1 million to Crypto Freedom PAC, a super PAC that has spent serious cash in midterm races in support of pro-crypto candidates. 

According to the new poll, 53% of voters said they oppose a Federal Reserve digital currency, while 11 percent said they support it. More than one-third of voters — 36% — said they were unsure.

Voters became more doubtful of digital currency when they learned more details from the pollster. Fifty-nine percent of voters said they were less likely to support a digital currency when they were told “the government could monitor all purchases that you make using the digital currency” and prevent it from being used for particular purposes. Plus, 51% said they were less likely to support the currency after they were told “the government could tax transactions made with the digital currency if the person making the transaction haven’t paid their taxes.”

The poll also surveyed voters’ opinions on the environmental impact of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Forty-two percent of voters said they were not sure if cryptocurrencies hurt the environment, while 31% of voters said they hurt the environment and 27% said they do not hurt the environment. Democrats were slightly more likely to say cryptocurrencies hurt the environment compared to Republicans.

WPA Intelligence, a firm that often works with conservative candidates and causes, polled 1,102 likely voters in an online survey from Sept. 6-11. Voters were polled in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

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