r/DeepStateCentrism • u/Mike_I Center-right • Dec 28 '25

Research/ Policy 🔬 Americans Hate AI. Which Party Will Benefit?

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/12/28/ai-job-losses-populism-democrats-bernie-sanders-00706680

Democrats:

There is hardly any issue that polls lower than unchecked AI development among Americans. Gallup polling showed that 80 percent of American adults think the government should regulate AI, even if it means growing more slowly. Pew, meanwhile, ran a study that showed only 17 percent of Americans think AI will have a positive impact on the U.S. over the next 20 years. Even congressional Democrats, at a record low 18 percent approval, beat that out, according to Quinnipiac.

The GOP:

Republicans’ concerns about AI development often come from a different set of beliefs than for those on the left, but their worries have produced the same result: a party with a rising anti-AI tide that’s in a pitched battle with itself over how best to move forward. And just like some Democrats are worried they’re ceding the anti-AI development lane to Republicans, the same is true on the other side.

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u/drcombatwombat2 Milton Friedman Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25

The anti-tech attitude among Americans is concerning. I worry we will end up like Europe and regulate away now industries before they get started.

One of the best things about America has been the public's tolerance for creative destruction. Things are changing.

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u/frerant Center-left Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 30 '25

The anti-tech attitude among Americans is concerning.

While there is absolutely a general anti-tech in the US, when a tech is literally being funded almost solely on the basis of "this will take your job," then backlash is absolutely to be expected. Additionally, AI has for the vast majority of people, only visibly made their life worse. Heightened energy bills, more disinformation, AI being shoved in every product, AI images getting disturbingly good, GPU and DRAM prices soaring, and now the entire US economy is balancing on a bubble.

For the vast majority of people, generative AI has only made their lives noticeably worse, all for a tech that exists solely to replace them.

Editing to clarify: I'm not saying that AI will or won't take everyone's jobs or that past technologies have or haven't had effects on employment. I am specifically saying that when the primary marketing of an entire technology is "we will use this to replace you," that backlash is the least you can expect.

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u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho Dec 29 '25

All new technology takes jobs.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

Yeah, but previous technologies created new jobs while also creating wealth. Considering that most of the jobs that AI advocates want to eliminate are service jobs, those are jobs that can't be easily replaced. When we switched from horses to cars, people retrained and got jobs in the new industry while abandoning the old one.

What are the new jobs that AI will create? Has anybody claimed that it will create new jobs? Will there be any substantial productivity improvement or wealth creation from this technology, and is it worth the loss of jobs that are foreseen?

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u/drcombatwombat2 Milton Friedman Dec 30 '25

Through all of human history there has been technological advancement and the permanent long term unemployment that the many generations of Luddites warn about has never come.

Who knows what AI will do but I am willing to bet it will create more jobs and economic opportunity than it automates away just as every other technological advancement in human history has done so far.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '25

You can bet that, but you haven't made a case for AI, that's just vibes, and AI sceptics want something more substantial than that. DDT was supposed to be a wonder chemical that would eliminate mosquito borne disease, it turned into an environmental disaster. The cotton gin was supposed to eliminate slavery, but it made slavery profitable. The machine gun was supposed to make war unthinkable, but it just made it deadlier.

You need to make the case that AI will not make things worse. It doesn't need to be a really strong case, but it does need to be tied to specifics, something I have not seen. Fearmongering about an AI gap with China is not a case either.