04-16-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

2028 candidates will face a new kind of economic anger 

Polls show cratering optimism as working-class voters try to prepare for the seismic changes ahead.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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BY Connor Diemand-Yauman

Election after election, Democratic strategist James Carville’s maxim, “It’s the economy, stupid!” has held true. But in coming political campaigns, candidates will encounter an especially virulent strain of economic anxiety—driven by artificial intelligence—that is proliferating among lower-wage, working Americans. 

AI’s advances are directly intersecting with Americans’ economic security. Candidates across parties, states, and offices will have to adapt to this new reality, quickly.  

New data show why. As AI reshapes the labor market and impacts individual economic prospects, these voters view it in increasingly dire terms. Merit America, the workforce development nonprofit that we co-lead, recently commissioned a national survey of more than 3,000 low-income Americans. The goal was to gauge their feelings about economic mobility, affordability, and AI.  

AI IS CREATING JOB CONCERNS 

The upshot? Lower-wage Americans—those earning under $50,000 per year—hold a dim view of the rapid technological and economic change reshaping society. These voters........

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