Poll Finds Broad Support for Federal AI Agency and Safety Tests

A large-scale survey found that voters in political battlegrounds strongly support creating a new federal agency to monitor and regulate artificial intelligence along with government-designed tests to verify AI model safety. The University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation polled almost 20,000 adults across 11 competitive states and 28 competitive congressional districts.

Nationally, 85 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans backed the agency proposal.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents overall supported requiring new AI programs that make critical decisions to pass government-designed tests covering regulatory compliance, data privacy, security, and bias prevention. An executive order signed by President Donald Trump in June called for frontier AI models to undergo similar tests on a voluntary basis.

The survey also recorded strong backing for labeling deepfakes and prohibiting their use in political campaigns. Respondents likewise favored rules on children’s safety and age verification for AI systems. The House has reached an agreement on legislation that would require pornography age verification and social media protections for minors.

Free-speech advocates and some lawmakers have warned that the provisions could create opportunities for unauthorized surveillance or censorship.