Crypto and AI industry groups are pouring tens of millions into the 2026 midterm elections even as a new poll finds most Americans distrust both sectors. An April survey by Public First for Politico found 45% of Americans say investing in cryptocurrency is not worth the risk, while 44% say AI is developing too quickly. Nearly half of respondents said they trust a traditional bank more than a crypto platform, and two-thirds want Congress to impose strict regulations or broad oversight principles on AI.
Those attitudes could complicate races for candidates accepting money from industry-aligned super PACs. In hypothetical matchups, voters were far less likely to support candidates backed by groups advocating looser AI regulations than those endorsed by groups calling for tighter tech rules. “Skepticism of the industries, those results suggest, could turn into voter backlash if Americans grow fed up with the heavy spending,” the report said.
The poll was conducted online from April 11–14, surveying 2,035 U.S. adults. Results were weighted by age, race, gender, geography and educational attainment, with an overall margin of sampling error of ±2.2 percentage points.
Pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, launched in August 2025, has raised more than $75 million and deployed funds in primaries across North Carolina, Texas, Illinois and New York. Fairshake, a pro-crypto PAC backed by Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs, has spent about $28 million in competitive primaries. Both sectors are also increasing lobby spending: OpenAI and Anthropic posted record lobbying expenditures in the first quarter of 2026, while the crypto industry is pushing the CLARITY Act through the Senate, a market-structure bill aimed at delivering regulatory certainty for digital assets.
In 2024, a PAC affiliated with Fairshake spent over $40 million in efforts that helped defeat Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto critic who is running again. Despite the large sums being spent now, most voters are unaware of these specific groups: only 9% recognized Leading the Future and just 3% knew Fairshake’s name. Political observers warn that once voters link the money to the industries behind it, backlash could be swift. “I do think if they see somebody is backed by crypto, that’s always going to be a problem,” former Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci said.
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