© Alex Wang Campaign advisers have warned former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Young to stay away from cryptocurrencies. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)As the 2020 U.S. presidential candidates split, groups of Democratic candidates tried to separate themselves from the pack. As part of his bold campaign to address the imbalances in the economy, Andrew Young does not hesitate to predict that cryptocurrencies can play an effective role.
He joked at a recent event in Washington that his campaign team begged him to stop talking about cryptocurrencies.
"My team didn't want me to publish it in front of the mainstream press," he told CoinDesk. Young said his people wanted him to stick to a different message. But the American electorate generally did not demand that high-tech leaders be sent to Washington, and his presidential campaign quickly failed.
This year, cryptocurrency does not seem to have fared well as a political issue in the mid-term parliamentary campaigns leading up to the November 8 general election. Many prominent candidates are willing to say anything publicly about digital assets, although many have privately assured the industry of what they will do for cryptocurrencies and that their campaigns are financially viable.
Michelle Bond, executive director of the Digital Asset Markets Association, which lobbies for cryptocurrency companies in Washington, was among several crypto advocates running for Congress this year, and she quickly learned that crypto carries some political toxicity.
"Cryptocurrency was not an issue that was welcomed on the campaign trail, either by those who came in front of me or by the voters," said Bond, who is seeking the Republican nomination for a seat in New York. , in an interview. He hasn't made cryptocurrencies a central issue in his campaign, but says he doesn't need to because he wears that label whether he likes it or not. "They called me the Crypto Queen."
He collected 6,491 votes against 11,398 votes for the candidate of the Republican Party. On the other hand, early bitcoin investor and attorney Bruce Fenton sought Republican support for a seat in New Hampshire, but only received 4.4% of the vote in those primaries. Matt West, a decentralized finance (DeFi) developer in Oregon, finished sixth in the Democratic primary with 8%.
Bond, who said there is a great distrust of cryptocurrencies among voters who don't know much about the industry, said lobbyists are doing a good job of educating lawmakers, but the general public has yet to reach out.
"Crypto needs to do better in the mainstream media," he said, despite the mainstream media's focus in recent months on the dramatic collapse of several major companies, falling token prices and endless piracy. . "We need to go further and start reaching out to these voters."
Crypto has a population. According to data from the Pew Research Center (and anecdotal evidence from sibling culture), those attracted to digital assets are more likely to be male and under 30. According to statistics, young people in the United States are not big voters. So when a politician starts working on cryptocurrencies, election consultants know they won't get many votes and risk alienating older people who might be worried about this financial decision. .
According to a recent survey by the Cryptocurrency Innovation Council, one in eight people in the United States currently owns cryptocurrencies. More than half of the 1,200 voters who took part in the online poll, 52%, said they wanted more regulation for the cryptocurrency sector, while only 7% preferred less control. Consequently, they favor government jobs, but reported being less likely to vote for a candidate who supports cryptocurrencies.
In another poll released this week, 37% of respondents said they would consider a candidate's opinion on cryptocurrencies before voting.
Like Bond, another Illinois House candidate, Jonathan Jackson, businessman, professor and son of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, has learned that cryptocurrency support comes at a price. Cryptocurrency industry sources have accused him of benefiting from tens of thousands of dollars spent on advertising for his campaign. The money was set up as an "independent expenditure" where unlimited money could be poured into the campaign from corporate sources or wealthy philanthropists, so Jackson argued he had no choice but to accept help.
"By definition, independent spending is only independent," he said in a statement to Chicago-area media. "We don't look for it and we can't control it."
However, his campaign website is one of the few in the country to openly advertise the benefits of cryptocurrency, and he is expected to win next week's general election and be in Congress next week as he won a decisive victory in the Democratic primary. year . .
The cryptocurrency industry itself knows that it will not be able to get many votes for its favorite candidates. So when political action committees (PACs) buy television ads or billboards for candidates, the issues they highlight generally don't involve cryptocurrencies. They often focus on issues that are particularly important to the district or claim that their candidate is running, so viewers can rarely guess that an ad is being paid for by a crypto PAC without the fine print they can see.
The so-called cryptocurrency winter has drowned out even the most beautiful stories of everyday people getting rich in new markets. Instead, many voters probably know someone who has struggled with cryptocurrencies recently. This further eliminates opportunities for candidates to make friends through their digitally active conversations.
"Nobody's like rah, rah, rah, crypto right now," Bond said, adding that the tag "crypto queen" doesn't help the political rookie who is second in line. 1 million dollars that will do more advertising to support it.