Public opposition to AI data centers hits 61% ahead of midterms

3 days ago 36

Nearly two-thirds of likely voters in the United States say they don’t want new AI data centers built near them, according to fresh polling that lands just weeks before the midterm elections. The numbers paint a striking picture of AI data centers opposition cutting across party lines, income brackets and age groups, even as politicians in both parties scramble to figure out how to respond.

Key takeaways

61 percent of likely U.S. voters oppose construction of AI data centers, according to a New York Times/Siena University poll of 1,503 voters conducted in early September.
Only 14 percent of respondents said they strongly support building these facilities.
2024 Trump voters are nearly evenly split, 49 percent support versus 45 percent opposed, while voters who backed Kamala Harris or didn’t vote lean heavily against at 74 percent and 67 percent.
Among opponents, 56 percent want limits on data centers while 38 percent favor a total ban.
Environmental and water usage worries (32 percent) top the list of reasons for opposition, ahead of community impact (21 percent) and general distrust of AI (18 percent).

Broad Opposition to AI Data Centers Emerges in New Poll

The headline number is hard to ignore: 61 percent of the 1,503 likely voters surveyed said they oppose the construction of data centers built to power artificial intelligence. The poll, conducted by The New York Times and Siena University in early September, before the recent wave of debate over AI safety, found that only 14 percent of respondents said they strongly support this kind of construction.

That gap between strong opposition and lukewarm support is one of the clearest signals yet that voter attitudes on AI infrastructure have hardened. It’s not a fringe position — it’s closer to a supermajority stance, spanning demographics that rarely agree on much else this election cycle.

Political Divides Shape Voter Attitudes on AI Data Centers

Support for AI data centers doesn’t break cleanly along party lines, but the divide widens sharply depending on who voters backed in the last presidential race.

Trump Voters Split Down the Middle

Among people who voted for Donald Trump in 2024, the numbers were almost even: 49 percent said they support building data centers for AI, while 45 percent said they oppose it. That near-tie suggests the issue hasn’t fully calcified into a partisan talking point on the right, at least not yet.

Harris Voters and Nonvoters Lean Strongly Against

The picture looks very different among people who voted for Kamala Harris or who sat out the last election entirely. Those groups leaned toward opposition at 74 percent and 67 percent, respectively. In other words, the strongest resistance to AI data center construction comes not from committed partisans on either side, but from voters who either backed the Democratic ticket or didn’t cast a ballot at all.

This matters because it shows AI data centers opposition isn’t simply a red-versus-blue story. It cuts through typical political alignments in a way that few other issues do this cycle.

Why Voters Oppose AI Data Centers

Environmental worries drive most of the pushback, but voters cite a mix of practical and emotional concerns when explaining why they don’t want these facilities built.

Environmental and Community Concerns Top the List

Among voters who said they oppose data center construction, environmental and water usage concerns were the most common reason, cited by 32 percent of respondents. That was followed by impact on local communities at 21 percent, and general distrust or dislike of AI itself at 18 percent. Regulatory concerns and worries about the economy trailed further behind.

The prominence of water and environmental concerns lines up with ongoing debates in communities where data centers have already been built or proposed, where residents have raised questions about strain on local resources and infrastructure.

Limits or Total Ban? Opponents Are Divided

Opposition doesn’t automatically translate into a demand for an outright ban. Of the voters who said they oppose data center construction, 56 percent said they’d support limits rather than a complete prohibition, while 38 percent said they’d prefer a total ban. That split suggests most opponents are looking for regulation and guardrails rather than a full stop to AI infrastructure buildout — though a sizable minority wants the projects gone entirely.

Other Polls Confirm the Trend, but AI Barely Registers as a Voting Issue

The New York Times/Siena findings aren’t an outlier. An NBC News poll conducted in March found AI polling lower in favorability than even immigration enforcement, and a Gallup poll from May found that roughly seven in ten Americans opposed local construction of AI data centers. Taken together, the three polls point to a consistent, cross-survey pattern: whenever pollsters ask Americans directly about AI data centers, the response skews heavily negative.

Yet there’s a twist. Despite that consistent opposition, the same New York Times/Siena data ranked AI and data centers low on the list of issues voters said would matter most when deciding their midterm vote. That disconnect is worth sitting with: voters clearly dislike the idea of data centers going up in their backyards, but the issue hasn’t yet climbed high enough on the priority list to reshape how they’ll vote in November.

This gap between strong sentiment and low prioritization helps explain why politicians in both parties have started distancing themselves from data center projects at the local level, even without a unified national position on how — or whether — to regulate AI more broadly. Candidates appear to be reading the poll numbers on AI data center polls as a warning sign for local races, even if the topic hasn’t yet become a defining national wedge issue.

FAQ

What percentage of US likely voters oppose AI data center construction?

61 percent of likely US voters oppose construction of AI data centers, according to the New York Times/Siena University poll.

How do political affiliations affect opinions on AI data centers?

Support and opposition are split among 2024 Donald Trump voters, at 49 percent support versus 45 percent opposed. Voters who previously supported Kamala Harris or abstained tend to oppose data center construction, at 74 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

What are the main reasons voters oppose AI data centers?

The main reasons include environmental and water usage concerns, cited by 32 percent of opponents, impact on local communities at 21 percent, and general distrust of AI at 18 percent.