AI, Crypto Groups Pour $100M Into 2026 Races; Voters Wary

Deep-pocketed political groups tied to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency have injected more than $100 million into competitive 2026 midterm primaries even as public skepticism about both industries remains high.

A pro-AI super PAC called Leading the Future has raised more than $75 million since its launch in August 2025 and has spent on primary contests in North Carolina, Texas, Illinois and New York, according to Federal Election Commission filings. A pro-crypto group, Fairshake, funded mainly by Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs, has spent roughly $28 million across several competitive primaries. Both organizations are operating through networks of PACs and have backed candidates from both major parties.

A poll conducted by the research firm Public First from April 11 to 14 surveyed 2,035 U.S. adults online. Results were weighted by age, race, gender, geography and educational attainment. The overall margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points; smaller subgroups have higher margins of error.

The poll found 45% of respondents consider investing in cryptocurrency not worth the risk, even if potential returns are high. Forty-four percent said artificial intelligence is developing too quickly. Nearly half of respondents said they trust a traditional bank with their money more than a cryptocurrency platform, while 17% said they preferred crypto platforms. More than half said they have never and would not consider buying or trading cryptocurrency.

On AI, two-thirds of respondents supported either strict regulatory limits or broad federal principles to govern the technology. Nearly half said AI is likely to eliminate more jobs than it creates, and 43% said the risks of the technology outweigh the benefits.

In hypothetical matchups, respondents were less likely to choose candidates backed by groups seeking looser AI regulation and were more likely to favor candidates associated with advocates of stricter rules. Skepticism toward both technologies appeared across party lines: pluralities of respondents who voted for the 2024 candidates in question said crypto investment was not worth the risk, and roughly half of both groups said AI is developing too quickly.

Both industries have increased lobbying in Washington. OpenAI and Anthropic reported record lobbying expenditures in the first quarter of 2026. Crypto firms have spent millions urging Congress to overhaul digital-asset rules and to enact a federal market-structure bill known as the CLARITY Act, currently under consideration in the Senate. Industry lobbyists have expressed a preference for a federal framework by 2027 to avoid a patchwork of state laws; some technology lobbyists have indicated willingness to accept a single federal standard in exchange for limits on state-level regulation.

Analysts say the new industry players are becoming major forces in political fundraising and at times rival traditional party groups. The poll data and recent campaign filings provide a snapshot of where industry money is going and how voters feel about the companies and technologies behind that spending.