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AI Finishes Last in Voter Priorities but Still Makes the Ballot Conversation

November 4, 2026 at 6:01 AM EST · New York time

AI and data centers ranked last among the campaign issues measured in NBC exit polling for the 2026 US midterms, with 56 percent of respondents calling them an important factor. Corruption was cited by 90 percent and the cost of living by 89 percent, according to the reported results. Last place does not mean voters ignored the technology. More than half of respondents still described AI and data centers as important, even as substantially larger shares named corruption and living costs. The result puts the industry's claims of sweeping change alongside the more immediate pressures voters report when they enter the polling place. The poll grouped AI with data centers, the physical infrastructure that supports intensive computing. That pairing makes the issue about more than the chatbot on a screen: it also encompasses the facilities needed to run such systems. Even so, the combined topic did not outrank the other issues in the reported list. Technology companies have become skilled at presenting the future as an urgent appointment. Voters, meanwhile, also have to deal with the present, including the price of ordinary necessities. The machine may be able to draft a campaign speech in seconds, but the grocery receipt has a remarkably concise message of its own.

Satire. Not factual reporting. Read the original reporting from the linked publishers.