Big Number
Seven in 10. That is how many Americans oppose the construction of data centers for artificial intelligence in their local areas, according to a Gallup survey. Much of the opposition to data centers recorded in the survey had to do with environmental and quality-of-life concerns including noise, air and water pollution, as well as worries about higher utility bills.
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Tangent
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged to reporters Monday that building data centers amounts to higher utility bills for local residents. However, he urged tech companies to “take advantage of some of the federal deregulatory efforts that we’ve undertaken,” adding, “if you build a data center, you should be putting power back into the grid, not taking it out, and if that is happening, I don’t think that data centers are that controversial.”
Key Background
The boom in data centers, which are needed to power and train AI workloads, accounted for 2.3% of all 2026 U.S. construction spending as of April, according to Census Bureau data reported by Bloomberg. That share equated to over $50 billion in spending, and as the money invested into data centers has increased, so have anticipated power demands. The share of total U.S. peak summer power demand created by data centers is expected to rise to 8.5% in 2027, up from 4.1% in 2025, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis. Data centers have become a hot-button issue ahead of midterm elections, threatening reelection chances for some Republicans who previously backed their development, including Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. Trump has continued his support for data centers despite bipartisan backlash, saying, “I really want them—if a Republican’s against the data center, that’s okay with me.”
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Further Reading
Data Centers Are Threatening Some Republicans’ Re-Election Chances—But Trump Still Promotes Them (Forbes)
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