Poll: Majorities of Americans Back an AI Pause and a Billionaire Tax

What the polling shows

With the midterm elections one month away, large majorities of Americans support pausing artificial intelligence and taxing billionaires, according to Wall Street Journal polling reported by Futurism. Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults now support a pause on AI.

Fifty-seven percent say the U.S. government should regulate AI “immediately,” while just 12 percent said they trusted AI companies to “take the lead” and regulate themselves. Futurism ties the concern to the money behind the technology, from capital spent on data centers to the fortunes of the tech executives bringing AI to market.

Another part of the Journal’s survey, which polled 1,500 registered voters in late September, found broad support among Democrats, Republicans and independents for a series of economic proposals, including a federal wealth tax on Americans worth more than $1 billion.

Futurism notes that none of the proposals is likely to reverse the fortunes of working Americans on its own, but argues the results show how much voters are struggling.

Newstro reports facts and attributes every statement. Poll figures are from Wall Street Journal polling as reported by Futurism; characterizations are Futurism’s. Photos are file images.

The Newstro report

Read the transcript click a paragraph to jump to it in the video

Newstro graphic: 63% support a pause on AI, 57% say the government should regulate AI immediately, 12% trust AI companies to regulate themselves

GRAPHIC: NEWSTRO

Americans on AI

A clear majority want a pause on AI and immediate government regulation, while only about one in eight trust AI companies to regulate themselves, according to the Journal’s polling.

63%Support a pause on AI

12%Trust AI companies to self-regulate

Newstro bar chart: 90% ban surprise medical bills, 88% require insurers to cover prescribed care, 87% cap prescription drug prices, 79% limit credit card interest to 10%, 61% federal wealth tax on net worth over $1 billion

GRAPHIC: NEWSTRO

The proposals

Health care proposals drew the widest support: 90 percent back a ban on surprise medical bills, 88 percent want insurers to cover all services and medicine prescribed by a doctor, and 87 percent want a cap on prescription drug prices.

Seventy-nine percent favor limiting credit card interest rates to 10 percent. The billionaire wealth tax had the lowest support of these proposals, at 61 percent. Futurism notes U.S. billionaires collectively hold more wealth than 57 percent of American households.

90%Ban surprise medical bills

61%Billionaire wealth tax

Newstro graphic with a photo of pollster John Anzalone: populism is a dominant ideology among both Democratic and Republican voters

GRAPHIC: NEWSTRO • PHOTO: GAGE SKIDMORE, CC BY-SA 2.0

A pollster on populism

Democratic pollster John Anzalone told the Journal that instead of viewing voters only as conservative or liberal, populism should be seen as “a dominant ideology” among both Democratic and Republican voters.

He said people who feel they can’t buy a home or get ahead “will all of a sudden be attracted to policies you never thought you would be attracted to.”

Sources and credits

Reporting

Futurism — “An Overwhelming Percent of Americans Now Want to Pause AI and Tax Billionaires” (Joe Wilkins, Oct. 3, 2026), citing Wall Street Journal polling.

Images

All graphics on this page — Newstro, based on WSJ polling as reported by Futurism
John Anzalone — Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

The video also uses file photos from Wikimedia Commons: the U.S. Capitol (Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0), a server room (BalticServers.com, CC BY-SA 3.0), the Wall Street Journal sign in New York (PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 3.0), a pharmacy (U.S. Air Force / Airman Trevor Calvert, public domain) and credit cards (Yuri Samoilov, CC BY 2.0).