Americans’ Opposition to Hosting AI Data Centers Hardens, Survey Finds

The moves highlighted the growing political tumult over the boom in data-center production as elected officials find themselves torn between welcoming development and new tax revenue in their communities, and increasingly heated community opposition.

Their position is likely to grow even more tenuous as public opinion hardens against the water and power-hungry server farms.

According to a new nationwide survey by Gallup, more than seven in 10 Americans oppose construction of AI data centers in their local areas, and nearly half—48%–strongly oppose them. Only 27% support construction of new centers and a mere 7% strongly support it.

Underscoring the political salience of the issue, the survey found far more Democrats strongly oppose new data centers than do Republicans, by 56% to 39%, respectively. Women are also far more likely to oppose them than are men, by 55% to 43%.

The debate also pits local communities against the federal government, which under President Trump strongly favors an AI infrastructure build-out, adding to the political volatility around the issue.

Per Gallup, the intensity of local opposition is shaping up as a serious political and regulatory obstacle to AI infrastructure expansion in the U.S.

“Overcoming this opposition stands as a major hurdle in the expansion of AI computing,” the report said. “The intensity of opposition means that proposed data centers are likely to spur grassroots activism from local residents as well as legal challenges. It also indicates that AI infrastructure could become an important campaign issue in local and state elections this year, and politicians who favor data centers in their area are likely taking a politically risky stance.”

Read more: In US and Europe Regulators Signal End to Hands-Off AI Oversight

For context, Gallup notes that opposition to hosting AI data centers in the community is significantly higher than opposition to construction of new nuclear power plants, 71% to 53%. Data center opposition is also higher than historical levels of opposition to nuclear power.

Notwithstanding the partisan divide in the level of support for new data centers, opposition to them is evenly distributed around the county. Americans in the eastern half of the U.S. are only marginally more opposed than those in the West, according to Gallup, 68% to 63%. Opposition is highest in the Midwest (76%) and the South (75%).

Environmental anxiety is the strongest predictor of opposition, per Gallup. Nearly eight in 10 Americans worried about environmental quality (78%) oppose data center construction, while only about half (52%) of those not worried about the environment are opposed. Overall, 46% of survey participants expressed “a great deal” of concern over the environmental impact of the data centers, with excessive resource consumption topping the list of concerns. Another 24% expressed “a fair amount” of worry about the impact.

Among those supporting new construction, economic factors dominate. Fully two-thirds of supporters cited local economic benefits from new development, and 55% cited new job creation.

According to Gallup, the findings point to a growing convergence of AI policy, utility regulation, zoning, and privacy politics. They also suggest that the politics of AI infrastructure may increasingly resemble fights over pipelines, power plants, and telecom buildouts rather than purely tech policy debates.