Millions of voters consult AI systems about candidates before voting, but most campaigns don’t have a strategy for their opinions, according to a new study. According to data from Cornell University, a single chatbot interaction can change a voter’s opinion by 10 to 25 percentage points.
–A quiet shift is occurring in the way voters make decisions across the country. Millions of voters open an AI assistant and type their questions before attending a town hall or reading a mailer. The answers returned form an opinion before a single ad impression is recorded.
A Cornell University study found that a brief interaction with an AI chatbot can change a voter’s opinion about a presidential candidate or policy by 10 to 25 percent. A hypothetical model applied to Japan’s February 2026 House of Representatives election showed that policy-driven AI responses caused a 50 to 98 percentage point change in party preference. Large-scale language models have demonstrated measurable persuasion effects in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, and researchers predict similar effects in Canadian and Polish elections.
Most campaigns don’t have a strategy for what that answer means.
Visibility 360, an authority architecture firm based in Beach Park, Illinois, studied how AI systems identify and recommend experts and applied the results directly to political candidates for the 2026 midterm ballot.
“AI gathers information from news reports, published statements, and content that appears consistently across trusted platforms. Candidates whose positions, records, and backgrounds are clearly and consistently displayed in such locations are much more likely to be favorably recommended. Candidates with thin or inconsistent digital footprints are at a significant disadvantage…and TV and radio budgets can’t solve that.” — Barbara Drady, Founder, Visibility 360
Gaps are widest where resources are thinnest.
The 2026 midterm elections include races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 39 governorships, and thousands of state and local offices. Candidates who vote against them face the toughest challenges…While presidential and Senate campaigns have consultants and research teams, state House and school board candidates typically do not. The difference in AI visibility is greatest precisely where campaign resources are thinnest.
Advertisements generate questions. AI provides the answers.
AI systems do not evaluate candidates the way voters do. They look for signals, consistent and reliable third-party information that appears on multiple trusted platforms. News coverage is important. Published positions are important. Third-party verification is important.
Every dollar spent on traditional media drives curiosity… curiosity drives AI queries… and AI provides answers. Most campaigns only fund half of that equation.
Visibility 360 releases free tools for campaign teams
Visibility 360 has released Political AI Pulse. This is a free tool that runs real voter questions simultaneously through Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT and displays the results side by side. Anyone can enter a candidate’s name, race, state, or district to see exactly what the AI is telling voters right now. Campaigns can also assess their current AI visibility using the AI Authority Index. It measures how effectively authority signals are registered across major AI platforms. Visibility 360 allows free access to both until June 15, 2026.
Visibility 360 engineers approve signals across more than 300 media locations (news coverage, published positions, third-party credentials) so candidates appear when the AI system returns answers to voters’ questions. The company works with one candidate per race per market.
See what AI is saying about candidates at pulse.visibility-360.com.
About Visibility 360
Visibility 360 is an authority architecture firm that helps experts, organizations, and campaigns build AI visibility and trust signals that generate positive recommendations across major AI platforms. Services include guaranteed media placement across 300+ outlets, credential and trust signal engineering, and geographic exclusivity for each client.
Become an AI-recommended candidate.
“For more information, please visit https://visibility-360.com.”
Contact information:
Name: Visibility 360
Email: Send email
Organization name: Visibility 360 Co., Ltd.
Address: 10060 West Fairbanks Avenue, Beach Park, Illinois 60099, United States
Website: https://visibility-360.com/
Release ID: 89191298
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