Data Center Opinion Project

June 2026

June 17, 2026

Aerial photo of a data center on a busy road

Tech companies and policymakers are operating on an outdated model of public opinion on data centers. 

For more than a decade, data center expansion has been welcomed and even formally incentivized within tax frameworks. Public opinion - where it existed - was largely welcoming or optimistic. However, the landscape is rapidly shifting. Even as recently as 6 months ago, nationwide polls suggested that a little less than half of the public was willing to support a data center in their local area. That number is closer to 20% now. 

The data center industry was built on an assumption that public opinion is not a critical resource in the same way that land, water, and electricity are. But that calculus is quickly changing. Tech companies will have to reckon with public opinion to keep expanding - and public support is shaping up to be costly and scarce. We conducted a nationwide survey of more than 3,200 American adults to map that landscape.

Demographics of Opposition

Total Local Opposition

65% of American oppose data centers in their local area.

We asked 3,200 Americans how they would feel about a data center being built in their local community. More than 3 in 5 Americans oppose a data center being built in their local area, and less than 1 in 5 support a local data center. 

A bar graph showing responses to the following survey question: "Overall, would you favor or oppose the construction of a new data center in your local area to support artificial intelligence, or AI, technology?" Orange = Strongly Oppose; Light Orange = Somewhat Oppose; Yellow = No Opinion; Gray = Somewhat Favor; Dark Blue = Strongly Favor. The graph shows that “Strongly Oppose” was by far the most common response at 45%, and that total opposition from respondents was 66%.
Local Opposition by Political Party

Across party lines, most people oppose local data center builds.

Democrats lead the opposition; Republicans report slightly weaker opposition. But across party lines, a majority of respondents oppose a data center coming to their community.

Three bar graphs measure the responses to the following survey question: “Overall, would you favor or oppose the construction of a new data center in your local area to support artificial intelligence, or AI, technology?” Orange = Strongly Oppose; Light Orange = Somewhat Oppose; Yellow = No Opinion; Gray = Somewhat Favor; Dark Blue = Strongly Favor. The graphs measure how respondents from three different groups responded: “Democrats,” “Independents,” and “Republicans.” Taken together, the graphs show all three groups are mostly in opposition. Opposition was strongest from Democrats, followed by Independents, and then Republicans.
Local Opposition by Age

Opposition unites across generations.

Opposition is intense among young adults. But across generations, opposition to data centers is something that most people agree on.

Four bar graphs measure the responses to the following survey question: “Overall, would you favor or oppose the construction of a new data center in your local area to support artificial intelligence, or AI, technology?” Orange = Strongly Oppose; Light Orange = Somewhat Oppose; Yellow = No Opinion; Gray = Somewhat Favor; Dark Blue = Strongly Favor. The graphs measure how respondents from four different groups responded: “18-29,” “30-49,” and “50-64,” and “65+.” Taken together, the graphs show that all four

Dimensions of Opposition

Multidimensional Opposition

Data centers aren’t a one-button issue.

We asked people to rate the extent to which certain factors influenced their decision. The wide majority considered 5 or more factors when deciding how they feel about data centers - and that’s true for supporters and opposers.

Two bar graphs measure the number of factors two groups, “Supporters” and “Opposers” weighed when deciding their opposition or support for data center construction in their locality. Respondents were asked the following survey question: “To what extent did each of the following factors influence your judgment? Quality of life for local residents; local economic effects; AI development; environmental effects; effects on local resources.” The graphs measure the “Percent that considers blank number of factors in opinion,” measuring the percentage on their x axes and number of factors considered (in a range from 1 to 5) on their y axes. They show that close to 80% of both “Supporters” and “Opposers” considered five factors, and that “98% of sentiment was multidimensional.”

 

But opposers and supporters are focused on different factors.

We asked an open-ended question about why people feel the way they do about data centers. Supporters converge on economic and civic themes: jobs, community, the future. Opposers converge on environmental ones.

Most common support words:

jobs

community

future

Most common opposition words:

water

resources

environment

Factors Considered by Party

Opposition yields uniquely bipartisan agreement.

For decades, Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on environmental policy. Opposition to data centers has them speaking the same language.

Radar chart of the “Most common opposition words and their rate of use across political parties” in this survey. It measures how responses differed between “Republicans,” represented by red, and “Democrats,” represented by blue. The chart shows significant overlap in most common words, with the most popular words being “water” and “power” standing out as the two most common by far. “Environment” was common for both parties as well, but much more so for Democrats than Republicans. The other words were “resources,” “nature,” “pollution,” “noise,” and “jobs.”

Cost of Local Support

Is Local Support For Sale?

Support might be buyable -- but some won’t budge at any price point.

We asked how much it would cost to buy support - in $ - from those that either have no opinion about or oppose data centers being built in their local area. Of those people, most would accept a few thousand dollars. Some wouldn’t accept any amount.

$10K

The median payment acceptable to buy support for a local data center, amongst non-supporters.

22%

The amount of non-supporters that would only accept payments above $1 million.

Scatterplot graph of responses to the following survey question: “Imagine a tech company is interested in building a data center in your community. They are willing to negotiate terms with the local residents. They are in talks with your local government to agree on a deal that would give all local residents a one-time tax rebate. Under what conditions - in terms of a tax rebate - would you be willing to say that you support the construction of this data center in your community?” The x axis measures dollar amounts, with markers for “$10k,” “$50k,” “$100k,” “$250k,” “500k,” and “$1M.” A key to right of the graph is labeled “Number of respondents” and show four circles of increasing size that represent “50,” “100,” “150,” and “200” respectively. The graph shows that most responses fell between “$10k” and “$100k,” with the notable exception of about 200 respondents at “$1M.”

2,642 respondents did not support a local data center. Visual excludes those that reported payments above $1 million and those that reported nothing could buy their support.

Overall Cost of Local Support

Public support is costly.

The median non-supporter wants $10,000 to change their mind. A tax rebate paid out to every resident of a median-sized county would cost a total of $240 million.

A bar graph measuring the responses to the following survey question: “Imagine a tech company is interested in building a data center in your community. They are willing to negotiate terms with the local residents. They are in talks with your local government to agree on a deal that would give all local residents a one-time tax rebate. Under what conditions - in terms of a tax rebate - would you be willing to say that you support the construction of this data center in your community?” The x axis measures “Percent of non-supporters.” The Y axis includes five dollar amount ranges: “$1K or less,” “$10K or less,” “50K or less,” “100K or less,” and “1M or less.” As the dollar amount requested increases, the percent of non-supporters who requested that dollar amount increases.
Cost of Local Support by Income Level

The wealthier the opposition, the more their support costs.

The median acceptable payment for a non-supporter to change their mind is $10,000. But that increases as income increases: the median amongst those that make between $75K and $150K is $25,000; the median for the upper-class is $50,000.

Bubble chart of responses to the following survey question: “Imagine a tech company is interested in building a data center in your community. They are willing to negotiate terms with the local residents. They are in talks with your local government to agree on a deal that would give all local residents a one-time tax rebate. Under what conditions - in terms of a tax rebate - would you be willing to say that you support the construction of this data center in your community?” The x axis measures “annual household income,” with markers for “<$75k,” “$75k - $150k,” and “>$150k.” The y-axis measures “Acceptable payment to buy support for a local data center,” with and measures a scale from $0 to $500,000. A key to right of the graph is labeled “Number of respondents” and shows the small circle and large circle that represent 50 respondents and 100 respondents respectively. The graph shows that the median acceptable payment for those with a household income under $75,000 was $10,000. For those with a household income between $75,000 and $150,000 it was $25,000, and it for a household income of over $150,000 it was $50,000.
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