Concerns about artificial intelligence appear twice in the top ten of Chapman University’s 2026 American Fears survey. Fear of AI harming the political process ranked third at 51.9 percent, while fear of AI hurting the economy ranked seventh at 49.7 percent. The results measure reported concern, not the probability that either harm will occur.
What the rankings show
Robert Hitchcock’s Chapman Newsroom account places the AI findings alongside fears about corrupt government officials and a world war. The survey offers a view of how respondents ranked these concerns within the questionnaire.
A key qualification is that researchers asked these AI questions for the first time. Their appearance in the top ten therefore cannot, on its own, establish an increase from a comparable AI measure last year. A new question creates a baseline; it does not supply the missing earlier measurement.
How the survey was conducted
The study surveyed 1,221 adults online from April 7 to April 21, 2026, using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel. Chapman reports a margin of error of plus or minus 3.79 percentage points. The October publication date should not be confused with the April fieldwork dates.
Those details matter when interpreting responses alongside later AI announcements or political events. The results describe the sampled population’s concerns at the time of collection, rather than an immediate reaction to this week’s news.
Usage and fear are associated
Chapman also reports that weekly AI users expressed less fear of political harm than people who never used the tools: 46 percent compared with 55 percent. The account explicitly describes an association, not evidence that using AI causes fear to fall.
People may differ in many ways before choosing to use these systems. For organizations discussing adoption, the finding supports asking how experience and concern relate; it does not justify promising that more usage will resolve public worries. The survey is a starting point for understanding those worries, not a test of whether the underlying systems are safe.