A new Harris Poll survey shows that, despite a prolonged bear market, positive sentiment towards Bitcoin in America has increased significantly across every age demographic.

Commissioned by Blockchain Capital, the survey asked a representative sample of 2029 American adults a series of questions designed to gauge their attitudes toward Bitcoin in various areas.

The data, which was gathered between April 23 – 25, 2019, was then compared to a similar survey the company conducted in October 2017.

Given that the original survey took place during a bull market and the most recent survey took place during a bear market, partner Spencer Bogart admits that they had expected the change in market conditions have a negative impact on Bitcoin sentiment:

“We suspect that the difference in market environment between the two surveys would have a negative impact on Bitcoin sentiment in the most recent survey. Despite the bear market, the data shows that Bitcoin awareness, familiarity, perception, conviction, propensity to purchase and ownership all increased/improved significantly – dramatically in many cases.”

Survey says…

Out of all of the data collected, one of the most dramatic changes was in the area of Bitcoin ownership.

Eleven percent of Americans surveyed report owning Bitcoin. That is a more than 500% increase over the two percent of respondents who reported owning (or that they had owned) Bitcoin in the October 2017 survey.

Other key takeaways from the survey include:

Awareness of Bitcoin increased from 77% to 89%.

The number of people who had not heard of Bitcoin dropped from 23% to 11%.

43% report being at least “somewhat familiar” with Bitcoin (up from 30%)

43% said they “strongly” or “somewhat” believe that “Bitcoin is a positive innovation in financial technology” (up from 34%)

33% “strongly” or “somewhat” agree that Bitcoin will see widespread adoption within the next 10 years (up from 28%)

27% said they would “very” or “likely” buy Bitcoin in the next 5 years (up from 19%)

Confidence in traditional investments falters

When asked whether they would prefer to own $1000 worth government bonds, stocks, real estate, gold, or Bitcoin, the percentage of those surveyed who preferred the digital currency increased across the board:

21 percent would prefer BTC over government bonds (up from 18 percent)

17 percent would prefer BTC over stocks (up from 14 percent)

14 percent would prefer BTC over real estate (up from 12 percent)

12 percent would prefer BTC to gold (up from 18 percent)

Among the 18-34 age group – the same group most likely to purchase Bitcoin – the results showed less increase overall but a greater tendency to favor Bitcoin over more traditional investments:

30 percent would prefer BTC over government bonds (no change)

27 percent would prefer BTC over stocks (no change)

24 percent would prefer BTC over real estate (up from 22 percent)

22 percent would prefer BTC over gold (up from 19 percent)

A demographic mega-trend

The survey shows that Bitcoin is a demographic mega-trend as younger age demographics are leading the pack in every facet of Bitcoin awareness.

People aged 18-34 had the highest results on the survey, as seen by the following data:

90% have heard of Bitcoin (up from 74%)

60% are at least “somewhat” familiar with Bitcoin (up from 42%)

59% believe that Bitcoin is a “positive innovation in financial technology” (up from 48%)

48% think most people will be using Bitcoin in the next 10 years (up from 42%)

49% are likely to buy Bitcoin in the next five years (up from 32%)

Respondents in this age bracket were also more likely to favour Bitcoin over traditional investments:

Nearly 1 in 3 preferred BTC to government bonds

More than 1 in 4 preferred BTC to stocks

Nearly 1 in 4 preferred BTC to real estate

More than 1 in 5 preferred BTC to gold

Overall, the survey shows that the long bear market for Bitcoin has not dampened American enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency. In fact, the contrary has occurred as all indicators are up.