According to a new poll, only 27% of US residents support the government recognizing Bitcoin as a legal form of currency. Democrats show more support for recognizing Bitcoin as legal tender than Republicans, Coin Telegraph reported. Younger people are more inclined to have BTC accepted as legal tender than older people. The majority of baby boomers finds the idea absolutely ludicrous.
The poll question was:
“Would you support or oppose the US making Bitcoin a legal form of currency? This would mean businesses would accept Bitcoin in exchange for goods and services in addition to continuing to accept the US dollar.”
The poll was carried out by research and data analytics firm YouGov, a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm. Results show that 11% of respondents “strongly support” the idea of accepting Bitcoin as a legal form of currency in the United States. The remaining 16% of respondents support it to some extent.
More Democrats than Republicans show support
As expected, more Democrats than Republicans support the proposition, as the latter have always been the more conservative in every respect. The poll, which covered almost 5,000 US residents, found that just under 30% of Democrats expressed strong or at least some support for recognizing Bitcoin as legal currency. However, there wasn’t a big difference. 26% of Republicans supported the proposition.
Younger generations are more inclined to have BTC accepted as legal tender
As could well have been expected, younger people express more support. People between 25 and 34 were very supportive of the idea: 44% were in favor of it. However, only 11% of baby boomers supported the idea. This is the generation aged 57-75. Of them, 43% were strongly opposed to the idea.
The effect of income on attitudes toward digital assets
An interesting finding of the poll was that income had a statistically significant effect on people’s attitudes toward the digital asset class. More specifically, wealthier respondents (salaries over $80,000 a year) were nearly twice as likely to express support than those making half of what they were. The percentages were 21% vs. 11%. Those in the lower tax bracket were strongly opposed to the idea.
El Salvador’s precedent
The poll was inspired by El Salvador’s acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender. Despite protests from the IMF and the international community, the law proposed by President Nayib Bukele was passed this June. In a September poll, more than two-thirds of Salvadorans expressed opposition to the law. This goes to show Bitcoin can be adopted even without majority support from the population.
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