A majority of U.S. adults say it is inappropriate for President Donald Trump and his family to have profited from cryptocurrency since his return to the White House, and most respondents believe his private business interests affect his presidential decisions, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on August 17.
The four-day online survey of 1,166 adults found that 63% of respondents described it as inappropriate for Trump and his family to have earned money in that way, while 32% said it was appropriate and the remainder did not answer the question. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 5 points for the partisan subgroups.
Survey participants were asked separately whether the president’s private business interests influence his decisions in office. Some 69% of Americans answered that they do - a figure that included roughly two-thirds of independents and nine in 10 Democrats. The poll also found that half of Trump’s own Republican respondents said they believe the president allows considerations linked to his business interests to affect his decisions.
When asked specifically about the cryptocurrency deals, the responses among Republicans diverged: about three in 10 Republican respondents called the deals inappropriate, while seven in 10 said they were appropriate.
Earnings and actions cited in the poll
The poll notes that Trump, who was born into a New York real estate family and elevated his name into a global brand before seeking office, earned more than $1.4 billion last year from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures. Those ventures include entities named World Liberty Financial and a self-styled "Trump meme coin," both of which the president has publicly promoted.
In March 2025, two months into his second term, the president directed attention on social media to his self-branded crypto coin, describing it as the "Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Administration response and outside views
The White House has dismissed allegations of impropriety related to the president’s investments, saying they are managed by independent financial institutions and do not create conflicts of interest. "There are no conflicts of interest," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. "The President only acts in the best interests of the American public." Trump also says he has had no day-to-day role in his family’s business since returning to office and that his investments are independently managed.
By contrast, some ethics experts have characterized the combination of business and public office in the current administration as unprecedented in scope. Richard Painter, who served as the top ethics lawyer in the administration of Republican President George W. Bush, said, "We have seen nothing like this before, even the first Trump administration did not have as many complex business interests as the second Trump administration."
Public views on corruption and political consequences
Americans are divided on whether corruption is worse under the current administration compared with recent presidencies. Democrats largely say graft is more prevalent now, while Republicans are split, with 56% of Republicans saying corruption is at least a little better and the remainder saying it is steady or worse.
When poll respondents were asked which party they saw as more corrupt, 41% pointed to the Democratic Party and 49% pointed to the Republican Party. Attitudes about corruption also vary in intensity: four in 10 Democrats said they were extremely angry about graft, compared with one in four Republicans.
Public perceptions of personal enrichment by the president could affect political dynamics heading into the November midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress for the final two years of the president’s term. The poll’s findings signal a potential political liability for the president’s party if voters view the administration as influenced by private business interests.
Voices from the electorate
The poll included personal reactions from voters. Thomas Schmidt, a semi-retired crossing guard in Cudahy, Wisconsin, who voted for Trump in 2024 but said he has soured on the president this year, described the situation as "concerning." Schmidt said he expected the president to prioritize the office over his personal business matters. He listed his biggest worries as the president’s ability to control inflation and to disentangle the U.S. from the war with Iran that the respondent said the president helped start. Schmidt added he did not see the president as unique in mixing business or political interests, saying, "I think every president’s done something like that."
Context on policy direction
The poll notes that the president has pursued crypto-friendly policies during his second term after seeking cryptocurrency support on the campaign trail. Democrats have emphasized alleged corruption in the administration ahead of the midterms, while the administration has pledged to investigate corruption in Democratic-run states.
The Reuters/Ipsos online poll was conducted between August 14 and August 17 and surveyed 1,166 U.S. adults nationwide. The survey’s stated margins of error are plus or minus 3 percentage points for all Americans and 5 percentage points for Democrats, Republicans and independents.