A new Axios Harris Poll reveals a dramatic partisan split in American attitudes toward artificial intelligence. Republicans now express far greater trust in most AI companies, while Democrats have grown markedly more skeptical of the technology and its corporate backers.
The shift has accelerated sharply over the past two years, coinciding with the change in White House leadership and rapid AI advancements. OpenAI exemplifies this trend: its reputational score among Republicans and Democrats differed by only 1 point in 2024, but that gap has ballooned to 12 points today.
Not all AI firms suffer equally from the divide. Anthropic, led by Dario Amodei, ranks No. 15 overall in reputation among America's most visible brands, with a partisan gap of just 1 point. By contrast, OpenAI sits at No. 68. The survey also found widening partisan splits for TikTok, Nvidia, Meta, and X.
Companies with narrower partisan gaps tended to earn higher overall reputational scores. The findings suggest that political polarization is increasingly shaping public perception of AI firms, potentially influencing consumer behavior and regulatory attitudes.
Anthropic earlier this year drew Trump administration ire by refusing to lift safeguards preventing its technology from use in mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons development. The company's relatively strong bipartisan standing may reflect this principled stance.