As data centers have grown and proliferated, so too has the backlash.
A new poll conducted by Harvard political scientist Stephen Ansolabehere, found 40% of people supported the building of a data center in their area, with 32% opposed when asked about the building of different industrial facilities in their neighborhoods.
One fun tidbit from the poll, per Axios: More people would rather have an e-commerce warehouse.
Two-thirds of respondents in the 1,000-person poll conducted in November were worried that a new data center in their region would nudge electricity prices higher. Interest in jobs and economic growth helped the case for data centers, according to Axios — though that sentiment may fade as most data center projects don’t employ many people once they’re up and running.
Another survey, conducted last month and published earlier this week by Quinnipiac University, found much more opposition to data center construction. That poll found 65% of Americans oppose building an AI data center in their community. Only 24% of the 1,397 U.S. adults surveyed supported one being built.
The new polls suggest that the debate over data centers is far from settled, and continued discontent from such a large swathe of the electorate is likely to continue spilling over into politics. Data centers once worked quietly in the background, more or less. Not anymore.