# AI and data centers came last among midterm voter issues, but still mattered to 56%

> In NBC News exit polls, a majority called AI a decisive or important factor. Corruption, cost of living, Iran and immigration all ranked higher.

- URL: https://devisdead.ai/news/ai-and-data-centers-came-last-among-midterm-voter-issues-but-still-mattered-to-5
- Published: 2026-11-04T11:19:22Z
- Author: DevIsDead Newsroom
- Section: Policy
- Tags: elections, data centers, polls
- Originally reported by The Decoder (https://the-decoder.com/exit-polls-show-ai-ranked-last-among-voter-priorities-in-the-2026-u-s-midterms/).

AI made it onto the ballot this year, just not at the top of it. In exit polls from NBC News and SSRS for the 2026 US midterms, 56% of voters said AI and data centers weighed decisively or importantly on how they voted, [The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com/exit-polls-show-ai-ranked-last-among-voter-priorities-in-the-2026-u-s-midterms/) reports.

That's a majority, and it was still last of the five issues surveyed. Government corruption led at 90%, cost of living followed at 89%, then the war in Iran at 74% and immigration enforcement at 73%. Public interest in AI has jumped in recent months, The Decoder notes, but it still trailed everything else by a wide margin.

## How to read it

Both ways, honestly. More than half of voters calling AI and data centers a factor in a congressional race is not nothing. The fight over local construction, [electricity](/news/stuck-in-line-for-the-grid-ai-data-centers-are-running-on-rebuilt-jet-engines) and [schools](/news/mamdani-wants-generative-ai-out-of-nyc-classrooms-through-eighth-grade) has clearly reached voters.

But "important" isn't "deciding." When everything from corruption to rent ranks ahead of it, AI is a concern people carry into the booth, not the reason they're there. Politicians on either side looking for a mandate on AI policy won't find a clear one here.

Details are thin in this report, which gives only the top-line ranking. Watch for fuller breakdowns of the same poll, especially how voters feel about a data center in their own neighborhood. That question is where AI's local politics actually get decided.

**[Scoreboard](/scoreboard) update:** Draw. AI matters to most voters, and is still the issue they care about least.

Stay undead.