Ask yourself which Americans are most enamored of crypto, and a few descriptors may come to mind: Millennials. Techies. Guys.
Republicans? Maybe not.
But new research from the University of Pennsylvania finds that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to invest in cryptocurrency and that some regions are more inclined than others to hop on the bandwagon. Texans, for example, are fonder of bitcoin than Oregonians.
The study may help explain why President-elect Donald Trump has loudly signaled his support for crypto.
“I think Trump was a follower on this,” said David Reibstein, a marketing professor at Penn’s Wharton School who participated in the research. “I think he discovered his base was much more pro-crypto.”
Reibstein and his colleagues have spent two years collecting data about crypto from surveys of more than 22,000 Americans.
Among their key findings:
◾ Republicans are more likely than Democrats to own crypto, by a margin of 41% to 32%.
◾ Conservatives are more confident than liberals in crypto.
◾ Crypto is most popular in Texas and across the Southeast. It’s least popular in parts of the Northeast, such as Connecticut and New Hampshire, and in the Pacific Northwest.
