4 ms·

Polling shows a growing political reckoning is coming for data centers

30 points by mapping365 2mo ago

mapping365 2mo ago
The new poll found that 41 percent of Americans would oppose a data center being built within three miles of where they live, up from 28 percent in the January survey. The number supporting those projects dropped during the same period, from 37 percent to 24 percent. The shift was especially pronounced among people who said they had voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. The results reflect the scope of the challenge facing the industry and its supporters as the rapid buildout of data centers brings the issue home to voters ahead of the November midterms. More than 200 data centers are going up in dozens of competitive House districts, a recent POLITICO analysis found. “It’s rare to see political attitudes change this fast in an era where they are often quite static and partisan,” said Seb Wride, head of polling at Public First.
- jleyank 2mo ago
  Not surprising at all. There is paid for the locals when these things appear, but they don’t get anything back for that paid. Even if they’re computer literate and using ai, there’s no notice that this came from their local centre. Nor is there anything that’s unique to a particular location. People get annoyed at being inconvenienced so that others, elsewhere can make money.
  - yostrovs 2mo ago
    Here in Michigan there are large industrial facilities that most locals have no idea what is done inside. There's noise, electric usage, trucks coming in and out, but most people think it's ok. Data centers are seen differently.
    - logankeenan 2mo ago
      It’s different because those places typically provide jobs for the people in the surrounding area. Data centers don’t employ enough people to provide an economic benefit for the people that live near them.
    - SirFatty 2mo ago
      "but most people think it's ok." How would you know what "most people" think? Broad generalizations and opinion stated as fact.
      - RajT88 2mo ago
        If you live in the area, it's easy to say that. There's no protests in the local parks. There's no shouting matches at city council meetings. I say this as a person living in a town where they are building a bunch of data centers, and nobody cares about the existing industrial areas which include factories and heavy industry. No protests, no shouting matches at city council meetings. None of that. Granted, those were built a long time ago.
        SirFatty 2mo ago
        That's a few people, not most people.
        RajT88 2mo ago
        Most people don't show up to the data center protests. Most people probably are probably not aware of planned industrial development in the rural north part of my town. Most people probably don't read enough local news to be aware. My general feeling. I haven't done a count, but gut feeling maybe 1% of homes and businesses in my town have "Say NO to Data Centers" signs.
    - RajT88 2mo ago
      The tech industry has spent that last few decades fucking with people: addictive infinite scrolling sites, dark patterns, etc. Now the same assholes are saying their machines will eradicate the job market. And also will make their neighborhood noisy and their water and electric bills high. The industry has earned this pushback several times over. (I am generalizing but you get the idea from a layperson's perspective)
  - WarmWash 2mo ago
    Usually the states give the incentives, the local towns usually get their tax revenue doubled or tripled, hence why these boards sprint to approval
    - vharuck 2mo ago
      States may dangle the tax carrots, but localities could be the ones paying for road and utility improvements. The costs for that could be much less than projected gains in tax revenue, but that's a gamble. Not to mention being left with abandoned buildings. We didn't even need to have a bubble pop to see abandoned facilities. If one company goes out of business (normal in a healthy economy), there's little we can (and politicians are willing to) do to make sure defunct companies clean up any messes.
      - WarmWash 2mo ago
        From the few cases I have looked at, tax revenues for the towns is in the $30-40M/yr range. I cannot fathom what kind of road improvements a datacenter would need that wouldn't be easily offset. Or what demolition costs for a square box would be that would eclipse that, nevermind the value of the underlying land.
- nmeofthestate 2mo ago
  >It’s rare to see political attitudes change this fast On the contrary - these mass political crazes are like flash-floods these days.
  - mapping365 2mo ago
    This is not your standard partisan issue. What the Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders taught me about the great data center backlash of 2026 - https://www.wired.com/story/how-data-centers-broke-american-politics/ https://www.wired.com/story/how-data-centers-broke-american-... Data center approvals in Texas halted until audits completed, Gov. Greg Abbott says - https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/03/texas-data-center-project-audit-greg-abbott/ https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/03/texas-data-center-pr... DeSantis lambastes White House over possibility of blocking state-level AI laws - https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/4605403/ron-desantis-white-house-state-ai-laws/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/4605403... New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium - https://www.reuters.com/world/new-york-becomes-first-state-impose-data-center-moratorium-2026-07-14/ https://www.reuters.com/world/new-york-becomes-first-state-i... Libertarian Ohio governor candidate calls for ‘immediate moratorium’ on new data centers -https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/08/ohio-governor-candidate-calls-for-immediate-moratorium-on-new-data-centers.html https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/08/ohio-governor-candida... Oregonians want data center moratorium and no more tax breaks, poll finds - https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2026/08/oregonians-want-data-center-moratorium-and-no-more-tax-breaks-poll-finds.html https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2026/08/oregonians... Virginia state senators call for data center moratorium - https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/virginia-state-senators-call-for-data-center-moratorium/4137267/ https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/v... Tucker Carlson, Kevin O’Leary have testy exchange over Utah data center issues - https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-kevin-oleary-clash-over-funding-ai-data-centers-2026-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-kevin-oleary-...
    - SirFatty 2mo ago
      "Tucker Carlson, Kevin O’Leary" A real meeting of the minds.
- IG_Semmelweiss 2mo ago
  This could have been stopped so easily on its tracks with a simple premise: 1 day turnaround build permits, to any proposed off-the-grid data centers. BYO power. BYO water. BYO pipes & sewage. OK, you are good. Now build! Instead they are look like parasites invading the heartland and sucking resources (true or not), and owners pretend to be surprised when they are getting voted down.
  - sarchertech 2mo ago
    > 1 day turnaround build permits, to any proposed off-the-grid data centers. Utility planning is one tiny part of approving a building permit. You still need to look at storm water runoff, fire safety, environmental impact etc… I’m also not even sure what bring your own water even looks like. And even if they are providing their own wastewater treatment, that requires an even closer look than hooking up to municipal sewage. It also requires at least occasional long term inspection because these kinds of systems fail at insanely high rates.
  - malfist 2mo ago
    > BYO power Like 26 gas turbines that make a ton of noise and pollution? > BYO water What? How does one BYO water? > BYO pipes & sewage Pipes and sewage to where? There's an implied common ground at the end of those.
    - Cakez0r 2mo ago
      Yes It falls from the sky Septic tank
    - IG_Semmelweiss 2mo ago
      >>> Like 26 gas turbines that make a ton of noise and pollution? there's only noise pollution if there's anyone around. If there's anyone around, odds are land value is too expensive for a datacenter. As for pollution, that's already regulated. As is noise anyway. Lets not be pedantic. No one is protesting these due to pollution or noise. >>> What? How does one BYO water? Tankers. Like 95% of the world. Its a thing. This is actually the least likely to be an issue, since most datacenters run a closed loop water system anyway. >>> Pipes and sewage to where? There's an implied common ground at the end of those. Porta-potties for humans. Tanker disposal for the rest (to the extent you do have waste).
JohnHaugeland 2mo ago
it seems to me like we care about absolutely anything other than the one really important thing right now
pfdietz 2mo ago
Are folks still thinking orbital data centers are an impossibility? Because this is a strong part of the motivation for those.
- Bjartr 2mo ago
  A data center on a ship out in the ocean is orders of magnitude cheaper and orders of magnitude more capable. If we can't demonstrate a solution to the heat problem, in-orbit DCs that contribute meaningful compute are a fantasy and nothing more.
  - pfdietz 2mo ago
    Solar power in space is potentially very cheap; solar on a ship is not. The heat problem has demonstrable solutions that people who are physics challenged can't seem to get themselves to accept.
    - malfist 2mo ago
      > Solar power in space is potentially very cheap Only if you ignore the cost of getting in there
      - pfdietz 2mo ago
        No, even if you include that. Remember to not commit the mistake of thinking current launch costs are written in stone for all time to come.
    - Der_Einzige 2mo ago
      You think the heat problem has solutions in space? Good luck! Unfortunately this is a harsh mistress. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_cooling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_cooling You don't in fact have viable solutions to this problem when orbital launch prices are above like 100USD per ton, probably needs to be closer to 20USD per ton.
MrBuddyCasino 2mo ago
This does not bode well for American prosperity. This is going the way of Europe, complacent and non-competitive. The future belongs to China.
- mapping365 2mo ago
  Yeah, but how badly did Silicon Valley fuck this up to unite Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon in a common crusade?
  - dmix 2mo ago
    An 84yr old who doesn't understand the technology and 72yr old political hack? Both of whom are populist and lived in the fringe most of their careers.
- faitswulff 2mo ago
  Data centers would be less contentious in the U.S. if energy was plentiful and clean. As it is, it externalizes costs onto the public and strains profit-optimized electrical grids while contributing to local pollution and global warming.
  - WarmWash 2mo ago
    The question isn't whether that's true, the question is the magnitude of the effect. By all accounts, it's completely blown out of proportion. If people genuinely, actually care about energy costs, they can vocally support when calls for setting your thermostat at 78F in summertime go out.
    - mcphage 2mo ago
      > If people genuinely, actually care about energy costs, they can vocally support when calls for setting your thermostat at 78F in summertime go out. Or, we can prefer energy being spent on air conditioning, and not on data centers.
Der_Einzige 2mo ago
[flagged]
- ImPleadThe5th 2mo ago
  There's a massive difference between piracy/copyright at a small scale for personal use or creative purposes and the wealthiest companies in the world devouring copyrighted materials and then selling it back to us. Actually both fit into the same category of "defending individuals from massive conglomerates". Either being sued into oblivion for sharing content or having your personal IP ripped off by companies with enough lawyers for them to get away with it. Protections for individuals, restrictions on big business. Seems to align greatly with the modern socialist M.O.
  - Der_Einzige 2mo ago
    This is why modern socialism is bankrupt. It does NOT change with scale. You ignored my part about how all socialists should call for the immediate open-sourcing of all closed models. Standing in the way of mass proliferation and dissemination of this technology is about as anti-socialist as it gets. Gatekeepers deserve no room for justification.
    - ImPleadThe5th 2mo ago
      Socialism is about making the government work for people and protecting individuals from corporate greed. If using AI (open source or otherwise) is going to require stealing water from or increasing energy demand on already stretched communities then AI isn't worth it. No AI until it serves everyone equally and without sacrifices. To me that's a more consistent stance than yours.
- WarmWash 2mo ago
  Thanks for saying this, it's so eye opening as you get older to see that just about everyone in these societal groups is actually just in it for themselves, and moral purity is a function of self service rather than an established baseline good.
- 2mo ago
andsoitis 2mo ago
What’s the situation in China? Are people there also opposed to data centers?
tzs 2mo ago
Part of the problem is xAI. I bet the first reaction of many people when they hear someone wants to build a data center in their area is "Oh no...they want to do to us what they did to those people in Tennessee!" [1]. They built it in a poor, 90-95% Black, area that already had air quality problems leading to high rates of asthma and respiratory illness, and then decided they could not wait for the power company to upgrade infrastructure for them so they powered it with dozens of unpermitted gas turbines that lacked pollution controls, massively increasing the air quality problems and health problems there. (They are building their own gas power plant which will have permits and satisfy state environmental regulations but still will emit a lot of pollution which will continue to be a big problem for the residents). Another part of the problem is that even projects that seem to be a good deal push so hard for fast approval it makes people suspicious. Consider Project Jupiter, a massive (1400 acre mega data center) project in a poor area of New Mexico. From the NPR story I heard about this one it seems it might actually be a good deal for the area. The public knew for months it was being planned but the details (400 pages of complex contract details and tax documents with many things still blank) were only released to the public 4 days before the County Board of Commissioners voted on it (4-1 in favor). The public was not happy with that timeline.

30 points by mapping365 2mo ago

The new poll found that 41 percent of Americans would oppose a data center being built within three miles of where they live, up from 28 percent in the January survey. The number supporting those projects dropped during the same period, from 37 percent to 24 percent. The shift was especially pronounced among people who said they had voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. The results reflect the scope of the challenge facing the industry and its supporters as the rapid buildout of data centers brings the issue home to voters ahead of the November midterms. More than 200 data centers are going up in dozens of competitive House districts, a recent POLITICO analysis found. “It’s rare to see political attitudes change this fast in an era where they are often quite static and partisan,” said Seb Wride, head of polling at Public First.

jleyank 2mo ago
Not surprising at all. There is paid for the locals when these things appear, but they don’t get anything back for that paid. Even if they’re computer literate and using ai, there’s no notice that this came from their local centre. Nor is there anything that’s unique to a particular location. People get annoyed at being inconvenienced so that others, elsewhere can make money.
- yostrovs 2mo ago
  Here in Michigan there are large industrial facilities that most locals have no idea what is done inside. There's noise, electric usage, trucks coming in and out, but most people think it's ok. Data centers are seen differently.
  - logankeenan 2mo ago
    It’s different because those places typically provide jobs for the people in the surrounding area. Data centers don’t employ enough people to provide an economic benefit for the people that live near them.
  - SirFatty 2mo ago
    "but most people think it's ok." How would you know what "most people" think? Broad generalizations and opinion stated as fact.
    - RajT88 2mo ago
      If you live in the area, it's easy to say that. There's no protests in the local parks. There's no shouting matches at city council meetings. I say this as a person living in a town where they are building a bunch of data centers, and nobody cares about the existing industrial areas which include factories and heavy industry. No protests, no shouting matches at city council meetings. None of that. Granted, those were built a long time ago.
      - SirFatty 2mo ago
        That's a few people, not most people.
        RajT88 2mo ago
        Most people don't show up to the data center protests. Most people probably are probably not aware of planned industrial development in the rural north part of my town. Most people probably don't read enough local news to be aware. My general feeling. I haven't done a count, but gut feeling maybe 1% of homes and businesses in my town have "Say NO to Data Centers" signs.
  - RajT88 2mo ago
    The tech industry has spent that last few decades fucking with people: addictive infinite scrolling sites, dark patterns, etc. Now the same assholes are saying their machines will eradicate the job market. And also will make their neighborhood noisy and their water and electric bills high. The industry has earned this pushback several times over. (I am generalizing but you get the idea from a layperson's perspective)
- WarmWash 2mo ago
  Usually the states give the incentives, the local towns usually get their tax revenue doubled or tripled, hence why these boards sprint to approval
  - vharuck 2mo ago
    States may dangle the tax carrots, but localities could be the ones paying for road and utility improvements. The costs for that could be much less than projected gains in tax revenue, but that's a gamble. Not to mention being left with abandoned buildings. We didn't even need to have a bubble pop to see abandoned facilities. If one company goes out of business (normal in a healthy economy), there's little we can (and politicians are willing to) do to make sure defunct companies clean up any messes.
    - WarmWash 2mo ago
      From the few cases I have looked at, tax revenues for the towns is in the $30-40M/yr range. I cannot fathom what kind of road improvements a datacenter would need that wouldn't be easily offset. Or what demolition costs for a square box would be that would eclipse that, nevermind the value of the underlying land.
nmeofthestate 2mo ago
>It’s rare to see political attitudes change this fast On the contrary - these mass political crazes are like flash-floods these days.
- mapping365 2mo ago
  This is not your standard partisan issue. What the Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders taught me about the great data center backlash of 2026 - https://www.wired.com/story/how-data-centers-broke-american-politics/ https://www.wired.com/story/how-data-centers-broke-american-... Data center approvals in Texas halted until audits completed, Gov. Greg Abbott says - https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/03/texas-data-center-project-audit-greg-abbott/ https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/03/texas-data-center-pr... DeSantis lambastes White House over possibility of blocking state-level AI laws - https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/4605403/ron-desantis-white-house-state-ai-laws/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/4605403... New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium - https://www.reuters.com/world/new-york-becomes-first-state-impose-data-center-moratorium-2026-07-14/ https://www.reuters.com/world/new-york-becomes-first-state-i... Libertarian Ohio governor candidate calls for ‘immediate moratorium’ on new data centers -https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/08/ohio-governor-candidate-calls-for-immediate-moratorium-on-new-data-centers.html https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/08/ohio-governor-candida... Oregonians want data center moratorium and no more tax breaks, poll finds - https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2026/08/oregonians-want-data-center-moratorium-and-no-more-tax-breaks-poll-finds.html https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2026/08/oregonians... Virginia state senators call for data center moratorium - https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/virginia-state-senators-call-for-data-center-moratorium/4137267/ https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/v... Tucker Carlson, Kevin O’Leary have testy exchange over Utah data center issues - https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-kevin-oleary-clash-over-funding-ai-data-centers-2026-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-kevin-oleary-...
  - SirFatty 2mo ago
    "Tucker Carlson, Kevin O’Leary" A real meeting of the minds.
IG_Semmelweiss 2mo ago
This could have been stopped so easily on its tracks with a simple premise: 1 day turnaround build permits, to any proposed off-the-grid data centers. BYO power. BYO water. BYO pipes & sewage. OK, you are good. Now build! Instead they are look like parasites invading the heartland and sucking resources (true or not), and owners pretend to be surprised when they are getting voted down.
- sarchertech 2mo ago
  > 1 day turnaround build permits, to any proposed off-the-grid data centers. Utility planning is one tiny part of approving a building permit. You still need to look at storm water runoff, fire safety, environmental impact etc… I’m also not even sure what bring your own water even looks like. And even if they are providing their own wastewater treatment, that requires an even closer look than hooking up to municipal sewage. It also requires at least occasional long term inspection because these kinds of systems fail at insanely high rates.
- malfist 2mo ago
  > BYO power Like 26 gas turbines that make a ton of noise and pollution? > BYO water What? How does one BYO water? > BYO pipes & sewage Pipes and sewage to where? There's an implied common ground at the end of those.
  - Cakez0r 2mo ago
    Yes It falls from the sky Septic tank
  - IG_Semmelweiss 2mo ago
    >>> Like 26 gas turbines that make a ton of noise and pollution? there's only noise pollution if there's anyone around. If there's anyone around, odds are land value is too expensive for a datacenter. As for pollution, that's already regulated. As is noise anyway. Lets not be pedantic. No one is protesting these due to pollution or noise. >>> What? How does one BYO water? Tankers. Like 95% of the world. Its a thing. This is actually the least likely to be an issue, since most datacenters run a closed loop water system anyway. >>> Pipes and sewage to where? There's an implied common ground at the end of those. Porta-potties for humans. Tanker disposal for the rest (to the extent you do have waste).

JohnHaugeland 2mo ago

it seems to me like we care about absolutely anything other than the one really important thing right now

pfdietz 2mo ago

Are folks still thinking orbital data centers are an impossibility? Because this is a strong part of the motivation for those.

Bjartr 2mo ago
A data center on a ship out in the ocean is orders of magnitude cheaper and orders of magnitude more capable. If we can't demonstrate a solution to the heat problem, in-orbit DCs that contribute meaningful compute are a fantasy and nothing more.
- pfdietz 2mo ago
  Solar power in space is potentially very cheap; solar on a ship is not. The heat problem has demonstrable solutions that people who are physics challenged can't seem to get themselves to accept.
  - malfist 2mo ago
    > Solar power in space is potentially very cheap Only if you ignore the cost of getting in there
    - pfdietz 2mo ago
      No, even if you include that. Remember to not commit the mistake of thinking current launch costs are written in stone for all time to come.
  - Der_Einzige 2mo ago
    You think the heat problem has solutions in space? Good luck! Unfortunately this is a harsh mistress. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_cooling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_cooling You don't in fact have viable solutions to this problem when orbital launch prices are above like 100USD per ton, probably needs to be closer to 20USD per ton.

MrBuddyCasino 2mo ago

This does not bode well for American prosperity. This is going the way of Europe, complacent and non-competitive. The future belongs to China.

mapping365 2mo ago
Yeah, but how badly did Silicon Valley fuck this up to unite Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon in a common crusade?
- dmix 2mo ago
  An 84yr old who doesn't understand the technology and 72yr old political hack? Both of whom are populist and lived in the fringe most of their careers.
faitswulff 2mo ago
Data centers would be less contentious in the U.S. if energy was plentiful and clean. As it is, it externalizes costs onto the public and strains profit-optimized electrical grids while contributing to local pollution and global warming.
- WarmWash 2mo ago
  The question isn't whether that's true, the question is the magnitude of the effect. By all accounts, it's completely blown out of proportion. If people genuinely, actually care about energy costs, they can vocally support when calls for setting your thermostat at 78F in summertime go out.
  - mcphage 2mo ago
    > If people genuinely, actually care about energy costs, they can vocally support when calls for setting your thermostat at 78F in summertime go out. Or, we can prefer energy being spent on air conditioning, and not on data centers.

Der_Einzige 2mo ago

[flagged]

ImPleadThe5th 2mo ago
There's a massive difference between piracy/copyright at a small scale for personal use or creative purposes and the wealthiest companies in the world devouring copyrighted materials and then selling it back to us. Actually both fit into the same category of "defending individuals from massive conglomerates". Either being sued into oblivion for sharing content or having your personal IP ripped off by companies with enough lawyers for them to get away with it. Protections for individuals, restrictions on big business. Seems to align greatly with the modern socialist M.O.
- Der_Einzige 2mo ago
  This is why modern socialism is bankrupt. It does NOT change with scale. You ignored my part about how all socialists should call for the immediate open-sourcing of all closed models. Standing in the way of mass proliferation and dissemination of this technology is about as anti-socialist as it gets. Gatekeepers deserve no room for justification.
  - ImPleadThe5th 2mo ago
    Socialism is about making the government work for people and protecting individuals from corporate greed. If using AI (open source or otherwise) is going to require stealing water from or increasing energy demand on already stretched communities then AI isn't worth it. No AI until it serves everyone equally and without sacrifices. To me that's a more consistent stance than yours.
WarmWash 2mo ago
Thanks for saying this, it's so eye opening as you get older to see that just about everyone in these societal groups is actually just in it for themselves, and moral purity is a function of self service rather than an established baseline good.
2mo ago

andsoitis 2mo ago

What’s the situation in China? Are people there also opposed to data centers?

tzs 2mo ago

Part of the problem is xAI. I bet the first reaction of many people when they hear someone wants to build a data center in their area is "Oh no...they want to do to us what they did to those people in Tennessee!" [1]. They built it in a poor, 90-95% Black, area that already had air quality problems leading to high rates of asthma and respiratory illness, and then decided they could not wait for the power company to upgrade infrastructure for them so they powered it with dozens of unpermitted gas turbines that lacked pollution controls, massively increasing the air quality problems and health problems there. (They are building their own gas power plant which will have permits and satisfy state environmental regulations but still will emit a lot of pollution which will continue to be a big problem for the residents). Another part of the problem is that even projects that seem to be a good deal push so hard for fast approval it makes people suspicious. Consider Project Jupiter, a massive (1400 acre mega data center) project in a poor area of New Mexico. From the NPR story I heard about this one it seems it might actually be a good deal for the area. The public knew for months it was being planned but the details (400 pages of complex contract details and tax documents with many things still blank) were only released to the public 4 days before the County Board of Commissioners voted on it (4-1 in favor). The public was not happy with that timeline.