A new poll reveals a striking disconnect in American attitudes toward data centers: most people opposing them don't actually live near one, suggesting the backlash is less about neighborhood impact and more about deeper anxieties over artificial intelligence's economic toll.
The survey by Milltown Partners, which advises major AI labs and tech firms, found that only 8% of respondents who oppose data centers say they know of one nearby. Yet support for a temporary construction moratorium reaches 49%, with just 16% opposed. The numbers suggest voters aren't uniformly hostile to the facilities themselves. When asked directly about having a data center built in their own community, 38% said they'd support it versus 34% opposed.
The polling captures a moment of genuine ambivalence. The public remains divided on data centers as infrastructure, but increasingly wary of their pace and the terms under which they're being deployed. A moratorium could force companies and policymakers to address lingering questions about water consumption, local costs, and who actually benefits from the buildout.
The real story lies beneath the surface. Data centers have morphed into a symbol for broader anti-AI sentiment at a time when Americans already feel economically vulnerable. Tech leaders' warnings about mass job displacement from artificial intelligence have handed critics ammunition. As Stanford business professor Andy Hall noted, even a small uptick in unemployment paired with public perception that AI is responsible could trigger serious political backlash.
This anger cuts across ideological lines. Steve Bannon on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left have both seized on AI as a threat to working people. The timing amplifies the threat. Anxiety about data centers isn't happening in isolation but arriving when Americans report feeling angry, insecure, and pessimistic about their futures.
Geographically, the pattern is curious. Two-thirds of planned data centers are slated for rural areas, even though 87% of existing data centers cluster in urban locations. Yet proximity to actual facilities appears largely irrelevant to whether someone opposes them. Living near an existing or planned data center doesn't significantly shift public opinion, according to separate research from Pew.
The data center boom is hitting another obstacle: labor. Tech companies racing to build massive facilities are running into severe staffing shortages. Genesis AI, a startup founded by Zhou Xian, recently launched a new general-purpose robot designed to move through complex environments like data centers, positioning automation as a potential solution to the worker shortage. The irony isn't lost: the very infrastructure fueling fears of job loss is being built with robot replacements in mind.
Milltown Partners surveyed 6,872 registered voters from May 10 to May 20 using online panels, oversampling regions with active data center projects in Texas, Georgia, Michigan, California, and North Carolina. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
Author James Rodriguez: "The data center debate isn't really about the data centers themselves, it's a proxy war over who gets to shape the AI economy and who pays the price."
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