POLITICO poll: Nearly half of Americans still distrust AI and crypto, viewing them as snake oil

A national poll conducted by Public First on behalf of POLITICO in April shows that 45% of Americans believe investing in cryptocurrency is "not worth the risk," while 44% think the pace of AI development is "too fast." Crypto and AI super PACs have collectively amassed over $300 million to prepare for the 2026 midterm elections, yet they face the dilemma of extremely low voter awareness and a severe lack of trust—Fairshake has a national recognition rate of only 3%, and Leading the Future stands at just 9%. This contradiction of "spending money does not equal approval" is becoming a political bomb that candidates find increasingly difficult to avoid when accepting these checks. (Previous coverage: Crypto industry invests $193 million to prepare for US midterm elections, opposition lawmakers become the first targets) (Background: Trump and Bessent join forces to pressure the Senate to "pass a clear bill," countdown to DeFi and stablecoin regulation begins) Fairshake's total war chest has reached $193 million, while the pro-AI Leading the Future has cumulatively raised over $125 million. Despite a combined arsenal of over $300 million, both face poll results that leave their donors uneasy. The money has been spent, but voters haven't kept up. In the 2026 US midterm elections, the crypto and AI industries are infiltrating election finance on an unprecedented scale: a national survey conducted by independent polling firm Public First on behalf of POLITICO in April shows that 45% of Americans believe "investing in cryptocurrency is not worth the risk, even if it could bring high returns"; nearly half say they trust traditional banks more than crypto platforms, with only 17% saying the opposite. More than half of Americans stated directly that they have "never considered and will not consider" buying or selling cryptocurrency in the future. The outlook for AI is similarly pessimistic. 44% of respondents believe the pace of AI development is "too fast," nearly half believe AI "will destroy more jobs than it creates," and 43% believe the risks outweigh the benefits. More importantly, two-thirds support lawmakers imposing "strict regulations" or "establishing broad principles" on the AI industry; in simulated matchups, voters are more inclined to support candidates who "advocate for stricter AI regulation" rather than those who "advocate for loose regulation." This apathy is non-partisan. On the issue of crypto, both 2024 Trump voters and Harris voters tend to believe that investing in crypto is not worth the risk; regarding AI regulation, 49% of Harris voters and 46% of Trump voters similarly believe the pace of development is too fast—a rare cross-party consensus, though one that is not friendly to the industry. Fairshake is primarily funded by Coinbase (which has donated over $75 million cumulatively and added another $25 million), a16z (cumulative $70 million), and Ripple Labs (cumulative approximately $50 million). Its network of PACs has already invested $28 million in various competitive primaries (according to FEC filings), betting on candidates from both parties with the strategy of maintaining cross-party influence and identifying those willing to stand up for digital asset issues. In 2024, Fairshake-affiliated PACs spent $40 million to successfully defeat then-Democratic Senator and long-time crypto critic Sherrod Brown (Ohio). With Brown announcing his comeback bid in 2026, he is highly likely to become a primary target again. Leading the Future was established in August 2025, with backers including a16z, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Perplexity, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. With a cash position of approximately $70 million, it has already deployed resources in primaries in states such as New York, Texas, and Illinois. PAC spokesperson Jesse Hunt emphasized in a statement: "A unified national framework can prevent conflicting state laws and impact our ability to win the AI race against China." Notably, Anthropic has taken an opposing path—in February 2026, it invested $20 million into the super PAC Public First Action, which supports "stricter AI regulation," openly clashing with the OpenAI-led Leading the Future and creating internal divisions on the AI lobbying front. Spending a lot of money doesn't mean voters know you. Polls show that 48% of Americans have heard of the NRA, 36% have heard of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and 29% have heard of oil and gas industry-related PACs—while Fairshake's national recognition is only 3%, and Leading the Future is only 9%. A greater cognitive dissonance is that 29% of Americans incorrectly identified the oil and gas industry as the "biggest spender" in these midterms, rather than