The mood around artificial intelligence has shifted drastically since the start of President Trump’s second term. Under Trump’s vision, AI companies have launched massive data center projects, secured major business deals and gained unprecedented political influence. But the general public is turning on the technology. Close to 40 percent of Americans believe that AI does more harm than good, and more than 70 percent have little to no faith in businesses to use AI responsibly, according to a joint survey by Bentley University and Gallup.
Why AI Is a Hot Topic in the 2026 Midterms
Artificial intelligence has become a heated topic as American voters worry about potential AI-driven job losses, the impacts of data centers and the use of AI-powered cameras in public spaces. Trump’s deregulatory approach has also enabled the rapid advancement of AI agents that could launch widespread cyber attacks in the near future.
This growing disconnect between America’s leaders and everyday people has transformed AI into a political lightning rod that could single-handedly determine the outcomes of the 2026 midterm elections. With anxiety around AI continuing to rise in the United States, we’re exploring the main reasons why Americans are rejecting the technology and what the industry’s long-term future looks like after the midterms.
AI Issues Voters and Politicians Care About Most
From job losses to data centers, these are the concerns around artificial intelligence that voters and politicians alike are grappling with in the upcoming U.S. midterm cycle.
Job Disruptions
Despite conflicting data around AI’s impact on jobs, many people believe it poses more risk to their careers than opportunity. A Pew study found that more than 70 percent of U.S. adults believe AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next two decades, including 73 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 29. After all, companies have often blamed AI for the tech layoffs that have sparked white-collar joblessness, which has derailed the traditional college track and convinced many young Americans to explore the skilled trades instead.
These fears aren’t unfounded, either. According to a Stanford University study, employment of workers aged 22 to 25 in jobs most exposed to AI was 19 percent lower than in jobs less exposed to AI. In this case, exposed professions are in areas like customer support and software development, while less exposed professions involve more manual labor like housekeeping cleaners and grounds maintenance workers.
With fewer entry-level jobs available for America’s youth, tech companies like Salesforce and Anthropic have introduced hiring initiatives and fellowship programs to ensure young people get to cash in on AI’s economic promise as well. OpenAI and Anthropic have even proposed plans to ensure all of U.S. society profits from AI development, including the creation of a sovereign wealth fund to distribute payments to everyday Americans.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have supported the idea of a sovereign wealth fund, and the Trump administration launched its own hiring initiative for AI projects within federal agencies. The U.S. Senate is also considering a bill that would require the federal government to provide more data on how AI is affecting the workforce. Still, it remains to be seen whether these efforts can regain Americans’ trust and convince them of AI’s economic benefits.
Data Center Costs
Another aspect of artificial intelligence facing scrutiny is its dependence on energy-intensive data centers. More than 4,000 data centers dotted the U.S. landscape by the end of 2025, consuming increasing amounts of natural resources and grid power at the expense of local communities’ well-being — and more are cropping up throughout the country.
The power consumption of these facilities has hit Americans particularly hard. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects data center servers’ high electricity demand will more than quadruple by 2050. In light of a Bloomberg analysis revealing electricity costs rose 267 percent between 2020 and 2025 in areas surrounding data centers, many Americans could see their electric bills soar to unprecedented heights in the coming decades.
Not surprisingly, a Gallup poll confirmed that more than 70 percent of Americans are either somewhat or strongly opposed to data centers being built in their neighborhoods. This attitude has translated into active resistance, culminating in multiple states considering moratoriums to halt the construction of new data centers. As a result, at least 75 data center projects totalling $130 billion have been disrupted in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to the research initiative Data Center Watch.
Buckling under public pressure, politicians are scrambling to prove that they, too, are ready to press pause on data center construction. In fact, more than a dozen politicians from across the country have signed a pact promising to regulate data centers and AI safety. President Trump remains the lone exception, though, as a steadfast champion of data centers, putting Republicans in a difficult position where choosing to stand with the president could mean alienating their constituents.
Surveillance Concerns
Americans also fear artificial intelligence encroaching on their privacy, most recently through Flock cameras. Created by Flock Safety, these cameras are automated license plate readers that use AI to extract basic vehicle information, which is often useful for police investigations. But numerous cases of police misusing the cameras have cropped up across the country, inspiring individuals to destroy cameras as a form of personal protest. At this point, more Americans oppose police license plate cameras than support them, according to a recent YouGov survey, which is a reversal from perspectives in years past.
With voters across the political spectrum viewing Flock and similar cameras as a privacy threat, left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders has openly condemned the company’s cameras as “AI mass surveillance.” On the political right, U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) introduced a bill that would forbid federal agencies from using “automated surveillance systems” that involve automated license plate readers, facial recognition or biometric technology. And U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has launched an investigation into Flock cameras. The states of Florida and Texas have even blocked the use of license plate readers, including Flock, citing privacy concerns.
Even as Flock’s CEO pleads for a “compromise” that balances respecting digital privacy with protecting the general public, both political parties see it in their interest to validate and act on the civil liberties concerns expressed by many American voters.
Public Safety Risks
AI safety took on greater urgency when Anthropic delayed the release of Claude Mythos in April 2026 due to the model’s advanced hacking capabilities. Months later, agentic models from OpenAI and Anthropic hacked other companies after escaping their testing environments. Such behavior has alarmed AI leaders, many of whom have signed an open letter warning that widespread AI-powered cyber attacks will only get worse.
In response, Trump has pressured tech companies to continue delaying model releases and signed an executive order for the government to review AI models pre-release — although his plan remains short on details. Pushing for firmer rules, U.S. Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) introduced the “AI Kill Switch Act,” which would require every model to be built with the capability to shut it down “when there is evidence of a credible risk.”
Policy decisions on AI regulation are further complicated by the Trump administration’s demand for unconditional government access to these models. The Pentagon actually blacklisted Anthropic over its refusal to agree to this condition, with the company citing concerns that the government could use Claude for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons programs. This ugly feud has also placed the Pentagon’s deals with Google and OpenAI in the spotlight, raising questions around how the military can deploy these companies’ technologies.
With Trump failing to take a strong stance on regulating agentic AI and actually pushing for its use in controversial applications, artificial intelligence and its relation to public safety may be an area where Democrats and Republicans more clearly diverge.
What’s Next for the AI Industry After the 2026 Midterms?
The latest wave of bipartisan backlash comes at a moment when AI titans like OpenAI and Anthropic are looking to follow in SpaceX’s footsteps with their own historic IPOs. To deliver the profits they’ve promised to investors, they’ll need additional infrastructure to support the workloads of even more powerful models. Political headwinds that slow this rapid expansion could then shake investor confidence in the financial outlook of AI companies and reignite debates about an impending bubble that may finally pop.
Confronted by this doomsday scenario, tech leaders may resort to drumming up nationalist fervor in the AI race against China, or funneling even more funds into political campaigns to elect pro-AI candidates. But winning the battle for the midterms can only do so much as a broader anti-Big Tech movement sweeps the nation, foreshadowing a future in which AI companies must scale back their operations because of stricter regulations and public resistance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do everyday Americans view artificial intelligence?
Overall, Americans hold fairly negative views toward artificial intelligence. A joint survey by Bentley University and Gallup found that almost 40 percent of Americans think the technology does more harm than good, and more than 70 percent have little to no trust in businesses to use it responsibly. A Pew Research survey also confirmed that more than 70 percent of U.S. adults believe that AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next two decades.
How is AI currently impacting the job market?
While there’s still conflicting data on AI’s impact on the job market, growing evidence signals entry-level jobs are taking a hit. A Stanford University study found that employment of workers aged 22 to 25 in jobs exposed to AI was 19 percent lower than in less-exposed roles. Exposed professions include software development and customer support, while less exposed professions require more manual labor like grounds maintenance and housekeeping.
Why are communities resisting new data center projects?
Data centers are known to consume large amounts of energy, and their rapid proliferation has led them to compete with local communities for access to natural resources and grid power. Especially with rising electricity bills in areas near data centers, Americans are pushing state governments to pass moratoriums pausing data center projects.
What are Flock cameras, and why are voters concerned about them?
Flock cameras are automated license plate readers developed by a company called Flock Safety that capture basic vehicle details — such as a car’s model, make and color — to aid police investigations. But there have been various instances of police misusing these cameras, encouraging individuals to go so far as to destroy cameras in their neighborhoods.
What security risks do advanced agentic AI models pose?
AI agents are proving to be scary good hackers. Months after Anthropic delayed the release of Claude Mythos due to its hacking capabilities, models from both Anthropic and OpenAI hacked other companies’ systems after breaking out of their testing environments. Numerous AI companies have since signed an open letter warning of AI-driven cyber attacks on essential infrastructure in the near future.
