Poll: Most US Voters Want Strong AI Regulation 10/02/2026 - MediaPost

A survey conducted by Stagwell's Harris Poll and HarrisX for the Harvard Center for American Political Studies found that 74% of US voters want a bipartisan government agency to regulate artificial intelligence, according to a MediaPost report published on 2 October 2026. The article's headline states that most US voters want strong AI regulation. The report describes the 74% figure as a strong majority of voters. The report presents the regulatory finding as its central result.

The same survey records other findings about how voters view the technology. Fifty-five percent of voters say AI mostly helps society today, a figure that represents a majority of those surveyed. Forty-nine percent view AI as one of the greatest innovations of our time. The report presents these figures alongside the 74% who favour a bipartisan regulatory agency, indicating that a majority of respondents both see benefit in AI and support government oversight of it.

The report does not state the survey's sample size, margin of error, or fielding dates, nor does it specify which agency respondents had in mind or what powers it would hold. The excerpt does not indicate whether voters were asked about specific pending legislation, or whether the survey distinguished between regulation of model developers and regulation of how businesses and government agencies use AI. The article is published by MediaPost and dated 2 October 2026. The poll was produced by Stagwell's Harris Poll and HarrisX for the Harvard Center for American Political Studies.