A Marketscreener analysis of YouGov data shows 70% of Americans believe AI advances too quickly, coinciding with announced layoffs at multiple corporations and record Q1 data center project cancellations tracked by Heatmap Pro. Washington responses include the December executive order centralizing federal AI oversight and the February Ratepayer Protection Pact directing big tech to meet its own energy needs. These measures followed earlier pro-AI policy under the AI and Crypto Czar and $100B-plus AI-related capital expenditure that drove 2024 GDP growth. Public polling from Pew Research Center 2025 similarly records rising majorities citing job displacement and electricity costs as primary concerns, while Axios reporting documents over 60 Trump allies calling for pre-release testing of frontier models. Local opposition has blocked multiple hyperscale facilities due to water and power draw, reversing prior bipartisan support linked to U.S.-China competition. The pattern ties directly to visible automation effects in labor markets rather than abstract hype cycles.