Poll: Republicans hold edge over Democrats on AI, the only issue where GOP leads

Republicans hold a narrow edge over Democrats on which party voters trust more to handle artificial intelligence, according to a poll released Tuesday by The New York Times and Siena College, making AI the only issue in the survey where the GOP leads heading into the midterms.

Voters favored Republicans on AI by 41% to 38%, a difference within the poll's 3.3 percent margin of error. The advantage varies sharply by age and sex: Republicans lead by 13 points among voters 45 to 64, but trail by 19 points among voters 18 to 29, and lead among men by 9 points while trailing among women by 10. On every other issue the poll tested, Democrats held the advantage, including several where Republicans have traditionally performed well: the economy (Democrats plus 5), cost of living (plus 11), immigration (plus 6) and the federal deficit (plus 7).

The finding comes as fears about AI's risks have drawn wider attention in recent days, following warnings from safety researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic about the technology's potential dangers if it achieves “superintelligence.” Both parties are still working out what their actual AI policy should be. President Donald Trump has taken a bullish approach, dismissing safety warnings as a hoax comparable to past controversies, while other Republicans have staked out more cautious positions. Democrats, meanwhile, have emphasized the issue's urgency without settling on a unified strategy.

That lack of a clear governing consensus is showing up closer to home for Republicans, too. A separate Times/Siena finding shows 61% of likely voters oppose new data center construction, including nearly half of Trump's own 2024 voters, as data centers' heavy water and electricity use has driven up utility bills and disrupted neighborhoods in several Republican-leaning areas. 

White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Axios the administration is requiring data center developers to cover their own power and utility costs so the burden doesn't fall on residents.

Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio's firm, FabrizioWard, has separately urged the party to back federal standards protecting minors from AI harms such as exploitation and cyberbullying, telling clients in a December 2025 memo that more than 80% of voters support such protections and that Republicans risk losing ground if they instead defer to a state-by-state approach.