TL;DR
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 63% of Americans consider it inappropriate that Trump and his family have profited from cryptocurrencies.
- 69% of respondents believe the president’s private business interests influence his government decisions, including two-thirds of independents.
- Financial disclosures published this year indicate that Trump received more than $1.4 billion from crypto ventures such as World Liberty Financial and his memecoin.
A poll published by Reuters and Ipsos revealed that most Americans believe Donald Trump and his family improperly benefited from cryptocurrencies since his return to the White House.
The survey, conducted between August 14 and 17 among 1,166 adults with a margin of error of three percentage points, found that 63% of respondents deemed inappropriate the way the presidential family obtained profits in the sector, while 32% considered it acceptable.
The most encompassing figure in the survey is that of the 69% of respondents who believe the president’s private business interests shape his government decisions. That group included two-thirds of independent voters and nine out of ten Democrats, according to Reuters.
Trump Administration: Cracks Within the Party
The most striking finding, however, cut across party lines: approximately half of the president’s own Republicans said they believe his business interests influence his decisions, an uncomfortable data point for a leader who came to power promising institutional transparency. Even so, around seven out of ten Republicans considered that the family’s crypto operations were appropriate.
Financial disclosures released this year revealed that Trump received more than $1.4 billion from ventures such as World Liberty Financial and his own memecoin. Those figures fueled successive Democratic efforts to limit his activity, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposal to ban elected officials from launching memecoins and calls for hearings on the president’s earnings in the sector.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly rejected any suggestion of a conflict of interest and stated that Trump acts exclusively in the public interest. For his part, the president maintained that he has no operational involvement in the family businesses nor any role in managing his investments.
The poll comes as legislators debate provisions within the Clarity Act that seek to restrict the president’s crypto ventures, with a Senate vote pending and expected for September.
