Results showed a wide majority of 3rd district voters oppose Trahan’s efforts to weaken AI catastrophic risk protection and water down chatbot safety laws

View the results here

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, The Tech Oversight Project launched a survey with Public Policy Polling of voters from Democratic Congresswoman Lori Trahan’s district (MA-3). The results overwhelmingly showed that the policies Congresswoman Trahan and Republican Congressman Jay Obernolte (CA-23) are pursuing on AI are underwater with her constituents, with overwhelming majorities opposing her efforts to weaken Massachusetts chatbot laws and existing laws governing catastrophic AI risk. The survey took place from May 19th to May 20th and surveyed 637 likely voters. The margin of error is 3.9%. View the survey results here.

“Congresswoman Lori Trahan has a track record of standing up to Big Tech companies, which is why it’s deeply concerning that she is choosing to work with industry-aligned Congressman Jay Obernolte on a MAGA-blessed AI deal that will ban state AI laws in the Bay State and across the country. Big Tech has a long history of exploiting vague, opaque legislative language to evade transparency and accountability. While AI technology is advancing rapidly, Congress has no history of passing comprehensive tech legislation and updating it later, leaving the margin for error at nil. It is our sincere hope that Congresswoman Trahan will back away from negotiations and deny Trump’s Big Tech MAGA backers an opportunity,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project.

Topline Results:

• 63% of Trahan’s surveyed constituents opposed the Congresswoman’s efforts to weaken existing laws governing catastrophic risk.
• 58% of respondents said they would be less likely to support a Congressional candidate who supported weakening those laws.
• 71% of Bay Staters from the 3rd District said that they opposed Trahan’s efforts to weaken Massachusetts chatbot laws.
• Two-thirds of Trahan’s constituents (66%) said they would be less likely to back a candidate for Congress if that candidate supported watering down chatbot protections.
• 51% of Trahan’s constituents had serious concerns about Trahan backing policies supported by the same Big Tech executives funding President Trump’s ballroom and campaign.