NBC poll finds 69% oppose local AI data centers as Trump tells communities to let them in

Data centers have grown widely unpopular among Americans across the political spectrum, a new poll found as President Donald Trump tries to convince voters they would benefit their communities, even as some Republican candidates have reversed course on supporting them.

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Trump has repeatedly lashed out against communities and lawmakers who oppose data centers, contradicting a growing number of Republicans who are pumping the brakes on their public support for data centers.

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An NBC News poll found 69% of respondents said they would somewhat or strongly oppose the construction of an AI data center in their local area, while 31% said they would somewhat or strongly support one.

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70%.

That’s the share of poll respondents who are more worried about AI than they are excited about it, the NBC poll found, though 52% said they use AI tools either very often or sometimes, up six points from a June 2025 NBC survey.

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That’s the share of poll respondents who are more worried about AI than they are excited about it, the NBC poll found, though 52% said they use AI tools either very often or sometimes, up six points from a June 2025 NBC survey.

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Last month, he accused communities that oppose data centers of wanting to be “backwards and poor.” Trump has made a number of policy moves to boost data centers, including announcing plans in July to loosen Environmental Protection Agency rules to make it easier to build them.

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Jon Husted’s opponent has named him the “face of data centers in Ohio” over his previous support for them while serving as lieutenant governor.

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He has maintained, however, that data centers, not taxpayers, should bear the additional electricity costs associated with their projects.

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That question had brought Orduno, 25, to a community meeting opposing a possible data center here, and her fears, she said, likely would influence her vote in the midterm election too.

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As about 100 residents filed into a church for the meeting in late August, under a Central Valley sky hazy with air pollution, many shared the same worries — that a facility pitched for the local fairgrounds could further worsen the area’s air quality and strain its water supply.

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As about 100 residents filed into a church for the meeting in late August, under a Central Valley sky hazy with air pollution, many shared the same worries — that a facility pitched for the local fairgrounds could further worsen the area’s air quality and strain its water supply.

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As of April, more than 1,500 new data centers were in development across the United States, according to a Pew Research Center analysis, largely in rural areas.

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Here in the 22nd District, home to the state’s most competitive congressional race, how significantly the issue will affect voters’ decisions remains to be seen.

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Demand for data centers, which house the computer systems powering artificial intelligence and the internet, has surged as AI use has ballooned.

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— Darian Orduno bounced her baby boy on her chest, looking down at his thick black hair and bright eyes.

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Community anger about the facilities has prompted close attention from California lawmakers, who passed legislation in Sacramento on Monday to regulate energy use by the data center industry and impose other requirements.

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Democrats see the data center uproar as fitting into their affordability messaging, and candidates generally agree data centers should be regulated, though their positions vary on how aggressively.

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For Republicans, whose party has backed AI innovation, responding to worsening public opinion has been trickier — particularly given President Trump’s championing of AI and data centers.

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Sixty-one percent of Americans would oppose a data center being built where they live, a late August poll by the Economist and YouGov found.

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Greg Abbott, a Republican, put temporary moratoriums on new data centers.

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California is home to the third-most data centers of any state, though it has experienced a relatively smaller new boom because of its high electrical prices and other factors.

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The idea for a center on the Kings County fairgrounds is part of a broader pitch by developer Global Stack USA to boost the state’s emergency infrastructure by installing small-scale data centers, helipads and parking garages at fairgrounds around the state.

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Still, 54 new facilities were in the works for the state as of April, according to Pew.

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Though Democrats and independents were more likely to oppose the centers, 47% of Republicans also said they would oppose it, and 52% of people who voted for Trump in 2024 said they believed construction of a new data center would increase their electrical bills.

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Though Democrats and independents were more likely to oppose the centers, 47% of Republicans also said they would oppose it, and 52% of people who voted for Trump in 2024 said they believed construction of a new data center would increase their electrical bills.

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The company has not made any formal proposals, but in Kings and Tulare counties, the issue caught attention after fair officials agreed to allow Global Stack to evaluate their sites.

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Last month, he released a set of policy points and called for a data center moratorium of at least a year to give Congress time to pass regulations.

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The company’s early materials envisioned operating 70 sites by 2030.

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Because fairgrounds are state property, local and county officials don’t have jurisdiction.

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The idea also prompted some residents to voice opposition in Ventura County last month.

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A College of the Sequoias professor, he is attempting to unseat Republican Rep. David Valadao.

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“The advancement of technology ... should not be an excuse to throw our communities under the bus,” Villegas said at the Hanford meeting, where he addressed the friendly crowd without identifying himself as a congressional candidate.

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He did not answer questions about the proposal in Hanford.

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Gomez, the retired teacher, was not happy with either party but planned to vote for Democrats because she viewed them as taking more action to protect public health than Republicans.

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But on this bit of policy they agree: Data centers are proliferating across the American landscape too fast.

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Vogel voted earlier this year for a moratorium that temporarily bans data centers from setting up shop in her heavily Republican county, which favored President Donald Trump 63% to 35% in 2024. In Washington, Rep.

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“I don’t think this is a Republican or Democratic issue,” Vogel said on the sidelines of the Iowa State Association of Counties’ annual conference here in late August, adding that she hasn’t talked to a single voter at home who wants data centers.

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For Vogel, the county supervisor, the unresolved questions are enough reason to keep data centers out of her county — at least for now.

“We need to do what’s best for Buchanan County and then, you know, if the companies want to come knock on the door,” she said, “then we’ll talk.”

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— the nation’s two most prominent democratic socialists — have proposed a similar moratorium that would cover the entire country.

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DES MOINES, Iowa — Dawn Vogel, a Republican county supervisor in rural Buchanan County, Iowa, doesn’t have a lot in common with the leading democratic socialists in Congress.

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Vogel voted earlier this year for a moratorium that temporarily bans data centers from setting up shop in her heavily Republican county, which favored President Donald Trump 63% to 35% in 2024. In Washington, Rep.

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But in July, he introduced legislation in the Senate that would require utility companies to charge large-scale data center operators enough money to cover the costs of increased electricity and water use.

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But it’s more about backyards than being seen as backward, according to voters who spoke to NBC News on a recent road trip along Interstate 80 from Nebraska to New Jersey — a swath that includes eight swing districts key to determining which party will control the House next year and two marquee Senate races.

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Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a 22-term incumbent, is using the issue against her rival, Republican Derek Merrin, who cast a 2017 vote in the state Legislature that helped extend tax breaks to companies that build data centers in the state.

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Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., who is on the ballot in November, signed a new batch of data center regulations in August after having encouraged companies to locate them in his state.

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His change of tune reflects a broader shift among elected officials who embraced data centers as a way to bring jobs and tax revenue to their cities, counties and states. Pennsylvania Gov.

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National and local labor unions involved in the construction and maintenance of data centers tout them as a boon for workers, both as a source of jobs and for high rates of pay.

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Several data center workers in Ohio spoke to NBC News about those benefits on the condition of anonymity because, according to one of them, they have agreed not to discuss their jobs with the media.

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Zach Nunn, but that he plans to vote for her in November.

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Republican and Democratic lawmakers at the local, state and federal level have proposed data center moratoriums that would suspend some construction of the structures.

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Proponents of AI data centers, including Trump, warn that the United States must compete with China on AI.

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