A hand-painted “No Data Center” sign in a rural Kansas neighbourhood in May 2026 (illustrative). Image: Catboy69 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped
Most Americans think artificial intelligence is bad for society, and about two-thirds don’t want any more data centres built to power it, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. It found 57% say AI is bad for society and 42% say it is good, and the pessimists feel it more strongly: 17% call AI “extremely” bad for society, against 2% who say it is extremely good.
The poll of 2,545 US adults was carried out on Ipsos’s probability-based KnowledgePanel from October 9 to 13, less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections. Its margin of error is plus or minus 2 points, or 2.8 points for questions put to half the sample. It also found that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how President Trump is handling AI.
Young people and Democrats are the gloomiest
The young are the most negative: 65% of Americans under 30 say AI is bad for society, along with 59% of those aged 30 to 39 and 53% of those 40 and older. Majorities of Democrats (63%) and independents (58%) say it is bad for society, while Republicans are split, 51% good and 47% bad.
Views are warmer when it comes to people’s own lives: 50% say it is good for them personally and 49% say it is bad, though 15% say it is extremely bad for them, five times the 3% who say it is extremely good. Most Republicans (57%) say AI is good for them, while most Democrats (55%) say it is bad for them.
Hacking and lost jobs top the fears
Asked about possible effects of AI’s growth, Americans saw far more risks than benefits:
| Possible effect of AI’s growth | Share of Americans |
|---|---|
| Hacking secure computer systems | 73% high risk |
| Eliminating many jobs | 65% high risk |
| People losing the ability to make decisions without AI | 62% high risk |
| Increasing economic inequality | 54% high risk |
| Human extinction | 33% high risk |
| Making everyday tasks easier | 34% big chance |
| US dominance in AI technology | 30% big chance |
| Making people more productive | 20% big chance |
| Creating many new jobs | 13% big chance |
From the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, October 9 to 13, 2026.
The jobs gap is the starkest: 52% say AI has little or no chance of creating many new jobs, and 38% say the same about making people more productive. Democrats are more worried than Republicans about inequality (66% to 36%) and extinction (40% to 24%), while Republicans are more likely to expect easier everyday tasks (42% to 29%) and US dominance in AI (41% to 25%).
72% don’t want a data centre near them
Two-thirds (66%) oppose building new data centres in the US, and that rises to 72% when the data centre would be in their own community. Local opposition crosses party lines: 81% of Democrats, 76% of independents and 58% of Republicans are against one nearby, along with 80% of adults under 30 and 69% of those 65 and older.
Rural Americans are the most opposed (78%), but 72% of suburbanites and 69% of city dwellers agree. Only 30% support building more data centres nationally, rising to 53% among Republicans who call themselves MAGA supporters.
The backlash against AI data centres has reached Trump’s home county, Amazon has offered $1 billion to win towns over, and a new bill in Congress would make data centres pay for the power they use. Trump has backed data centres strongly, arguing they can enrich communities and help the US beat China in AI.
Two-thirds disapprove of Trump on AI
Only 30% approve of how Trump is handling AI. Approval reaches 80% among MAGA Republicans, who make up about six in ten Republicans, but falls to 49% among other Republicans, 50% of whom disapprove. Democrats (92%) and independents (75%) disapprove by wide margins.
Trump has called AI safety warnings a “hoax”, and last month AI bosses signed a “morally binding” pact at the White House to police themselves instead of facing new rules. Most Americans want more than that: two-thirds say the federal government is not doing enough to regulate AI, including 80% of Democrats, 66% of independents and 54% of Republicans. Just 22% say it is doing about the right amount.
Neither party has won people over. Americans trust Democrats over Republicans to handle AI, 26% to 19%, but 49% trust neither. In April the two parties were roughly level.
Why it matters
AI is now an election issue, and the public mood is sour: most Americans see more harm than good, and even Republicans oppose a data centre in their own community. With half the country trusting neither party on AI, both have ground to make up before November 3.
Sources: ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll (ABC News); Ipsos (poll methodology).
Latest Policy & Safety news
