Young Voters Are Showing AI Advocates the Winning Message

Artificial intelligence’s purported adverse effect on the entry-level job market is one of the most widely covered angles in U.S. news stories about the technology.

Despite the frequency of this coverage, it’s younger Americans who appear to be AI’s strongest advocates. They’re the ones using AI the most, feel it’s improving their day-to-day lives and consequently have the most positive view of the technology. 

That’s according to the debut Narrative Strategies/535 Poll, conducted June 19-22 among 1,033 registered voters nationwide. The key findings: 

AI is especially popular among young voters: 69% of registered voters under 35 have a favorable view of AI, while just 24% have an unfavorable view. That’s AI’s highest favorability rating — along with its lowest unfavorability rating — among any age group. (A 55% majority of all registered voters view AI favorably.) 

Young voters are using AI the most: 59% of registered voters under the age of 35 say they’re using AI tools for work, school, or personal needs either “multiple times a day” or “about once a day,” which is comfortably the highest among any age group. (Just 39% of all voters say they’re using AI daily for these purposes.) 

AI is especially useful to young voters: 68%of registered voters under the age of 35 say AI is making their day-to-day life “much” or “somewhat” better, which is — you guessed it — another high among any age group. (It also compares very favorably with the general voter population, among whom 46% say AI is making their life at least somewhat better.) 

In other words, despite being the demographic most exposed to potential labor-market disruption, young adults are the strongest proponents of technology. 

This should send a very clear signal to AI advocates, with some clear implications.

Although much of the AI policy discussion tends to veer into the realms of existential risk, job destruction, and long-term governance — critical issues that merit a fulsome debate — our polling suggests that young voters, who use AI the most, are evaluating the technology based on its practical uses. When asked, via open-ended responses, to contextualize how AI had improved their lives, a clear majority of 18- to 34-year-old respondents cited some combination of increased productivity and task automation, improved research capabilities, and its general ease and convenience. 

That means the most resonant arguments in favor of AI will center on today’s benefits, such as productivity, convenience, and accessibility, instead of speculative upside down the road.

That younger Americans are both more likely to use AI and to view it positively than their older peers also suggests they may be implicitly distinguishing between job displacement and job augmentation. The question then isn’t whether AI will change work; it already has, and people know that. Rather, the question is how policymakers will facilitate an environment that prepares everyday Americans to thrive with AI.

As the poll underlines, the benefits of AI are only overwhelmingly obvious to the youngest among us. The ultimate outcome of this nascent policy fight will depend on which side of the debate, pro- or anti-AI, can cultivate the broadest base of support.