{"slug": "over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll", "title": "Over 2/3 of Americans Support Bernie Sanders-Style AI Stock Ownership Plan, Poll Shows", "summary": "A new poll shows 69% of Americans support Senator Bernie Sanders' proposal to require large AI companies to transfer 50% of their stock to a sovereign wealth fund owned by the public. The plan, called the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, would give taxpayers direct ownership stakes and voting power in major AI firms. Support dipped slightly to 64% when Sanders' name was attached, but strong support increased by 3%.", "body_md": "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ particular flavor of AI populism is more reverent at awed about the tech itself—and [maybe a little more credulous](https://gizmodo.com/hey-bernie-thats-a-not-an-ai-agent-2000736228)—than many of his AI-skeptical fans would probably like. Nonetheless, a new poll shows that the broad strokes of his actual proposal for dealing with the economics of AI are [overwhelmingly popular](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/12/majority-of-us-workers-support-ai-fund-amid-tech-layoffs-survey.html), at an astonishing 69% support.\n\nHis plan, called the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, is sorta like diet nationalization. In his own words, it goes like this:\n\n“This legislation would give the public a direct ownership stake in the largest AI companies in America through a one time 50% tax, not on profits, but on stock.”\n\nYou’re the captain now, American taxpayer. You own Big AI. Let’s make sure it only does good things, and let’s all reap the rewards. Plus, even if the stock tanks, it’s not like we paid for it.\n\nAnd if one poll is any indication, America is onboard. A June [poll by the research firm Verasight](https://reports.verasight.io/reports/june-2026-ai-survey#q-16) says a plan that would “require” the big AI companies to transfer half of their stock to a sovereign wealth fund owned by the public was supported by over two thirds of respondents.\n\nInterestingly, they polled with and without Bernie Sanders’ name in the question. There was a *slight* dip in overall support—down to 64%—when their question was phrased like this:\n\n“Recently, Senator Bernie Sanders proposed legislation that would require artificial intelligence companies to transfer 50% of their stock to a fund owned by the American public. Do you support or oppose this proposal?”\n\nBut the percentage of respondents who said they “strongly” support the plan in that case actually *increased* by 3%.\n\nIn addition to the public receiving a share of the profits, by the way, Sanders’ proposal calls for the public to partially control the companies themselves. “The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them,” he [wrote in the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/opinion/artificial-intelligence-bernie-sanders.html).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll", "canonical_source": "https://gizmodo.com/over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll-shows-2000784466", "published_at": "2026-07-13 09:00:47+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-13 09:13:32.282620+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Bernie Sanders", "Verasight", "American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/over-2-3-of-americans-support-bernie-sanders-style-ai-stock-ownership-plan-poll.jsonld"}}