For immediate release

 12-9-25

The Institute for Civics and Public Policy (ICAPP) at Ohio Northern University has recently released the results of the October 2025 iteration of the Northern Poll, a cutting-edge public opinion research project dedicated to advancing understanding of Ohioans’ sentiments on key public policy issues. ICAPP partnered with Survey USA for the poll of 1,638 Ohio adults which was conducted from October 7 through October 13.  The margin of error for this research project ranges from 3.1% to 5.1%, depending on the question. 

The poll conducted an experiment regarding computing centers in Ohio; it prompted one half of the respondents to consider “Data centers,” and the other half of the audience to consider “AI centers” Both groups of respondents were asked to provide their level of support for the construction of these centers, in addition to their perceived impacts on the economy, the environment, quality of living, and public safety. Full results can be viewed at https://www.onu.edu/northern-poll.

This press release provides an in-depth look at the results of this priming experiment, and its implications for the future of technological development in Ohio.

Ohioans are much less supportive of “AI” than “i” centers

Construction of “data” centers saw +10 net support, which is the weighted proportion of negative responses subtracted from the weighted proportion of positive responses (12% strongly support; 24% somewhat support; 15% somewhat oppose; 11% strongly oppose). This drops by 16 points to -6 net support for (10% strongly support; 21% somewhat support; 19% somewhat oppose; 18% strongly oppose).

 

Perceived economic benefits drop from +29 for “data” to +11 for “AI,” from -12 to -23 for the environment, from +8 to -9 for quality of living, and from +8 to -13 for public safety.

 Gabriel Mott, ICAPP Fellow

“The clear public hesitation toward the term ‘AI,’ especially its mitigating effect on perceived economic benefits, indicates that the ‘AI Bubble’ may be beginning to burst in Ohio.”

 

The term “AI” has a slight polarizing effect

 

ICAPP also looked at the change in the proportion of neutral responses – “Neither Oppose Nor Support” for the construction question and “Neither Negative Nor Positive” for the effect questions – as well as the change in the proportion of the two most extreme responses (“strongly” support/oppose/positive/negative). A decrease in the former and increase in the latter would indicate a polarizing effect.

 

The proportion of neutral responses declined from 38% (“dada”) to 31% (“AI”) for overall construction, from 32% to 27% for the economy, from 44% to 37% for the environment, from 42% to 37% for quality of living, and from 54% to 47% for public safety. 

 

The proportion of extreme responses increases from 23% (“dada”) to 28% (“AI) for overall construction, from 25% to 26% for the economy, from 22% to 28% for the environment, 21% to 24% for quality of living, and from 17% to 21% for public safety.

Mott said-

“Slightly more Ohioans have an opinion about ‘AI’ centers than they do ‘data’ centers, and when they do they’re more likely to feel strongly about it.This is reflective of the national conversation about AI over the past several years.”