Data centers are Americans’ least favored development, poll finds

Data centers are Americans’ least favored development project, behind power plants, office complexes and shopping malls, according to a survey released last week.

The joint survey by the nonprofit Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and consulting group Public First found that just 26% of Americans would support a new data center being built in their communities, compared to 46% that would oppose it.

That makes a new data center the least supported of 10 potential development projects respondents were presented with, far behind the support for new housing (58%), a road or highway (48%) and a solar farm (47%). Even the prospect of a new power plant or electrical infrastructure received more support at 35%.

Opposition to a new data center is so strong, in fact, that the survey found that 49% said they would rather nearby land be left undeveloped, even if it had no other viable uses than a data center.

The poll comes as data centers have become a major flashpoint politically and in local communities all over the U.S. Residents have consistently fought back against higher electricity and water prices, noise and other drawbacks. It’s prompted a response from many policymakers at the state and local level, including moratoriums, legislation and development agreements. But those behind the survey said it also suggests an unease about the growth of artificial intelligence, which data centers help support.

“We’ve seen opposition to data centers grow fast since the start of the year, but this is not just because of concerns about water and energy use,” Seb Wride, head of research and insights at Public First, said in a statement. “It is reflecting growing concern about AI in general. Data center developers are therefore not up against ordinary local resistance to a large building, but on the front lines of an otherwise intangible argument about how fast to move on AI.”

The survey notes that the depth of opposition to data centers on these shores is a “uniquely American phenomenon at the moment,” as a number of other countries are massively in favor of building more themselves. Nigeria, Vietnam, India and Indonesia are among the most supportive of building new data centers, according to the survey.

And the results suggest that concerns about electricity and water usage have broken through among the general public. ITIF and Public First found an increase in the number of people who believe that data centers raise electricity bills, deplete the water supply and are bad for the planet have all jumped significantly between January and July of this year.

Experts said during a webinar hosted by ITIF to coincide with the poll’s release that the data center sector needs to do a better job building relationships with communities to try and allay some of those concerns.

“This is something where industry, particularly all the biggest players, they want to be good citizens; they have those commitments around power, around water, and they want to do that,” said Jarrett Catlin, a policy advisor at trade group TechNet. “I think what we need to see and what we need to figure out is: what does it take to create the public trust between these developers, government institutions, and the public, so that people believe that that is what will happen, and that promises made are going to be promises kept?”

Data centers have proven to be potent politically, too, especially as campaigning for this year’s midterm elections ramp up. Governor candidates in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have already released television ads attacking their opponents for being too supportive of new data centers, and more may likely follow.

The ITIF and Public First poll found support for plenty of potential statewide policies towards data centers, which may give candidates plenty to think about. Requiring data centers to pay their full electricity costs and for any new infrastructure, as well as giving local residents a binding vote on whether a data center can be built in their local area both received overwhelming support as potential policies.

Meanwhile, a temporary pause or moratorium also received strong support, as did repealing any state-level tax breaks currently on offer and requiring minimum distances between data centers and schools and houses. A permanent ban on data centers in a state received a net approval of +20, which was not as high as some other suggested policies.

“This isn't just a case of people becoming more familiar with what data centers are,” Wride said during the webinar. “This is a case of people's center of gravity about what the impact data centers have on local areas is changing. And that's quite a stark shift to happen in just six months. It's not often that you see attitudes move that fast.”

Supporters of data centers remain adamant they must be built to ensure that the U.S. does not fall behind China in the race for AI supremacy.

“America will not succeed in AI if Americans oppose the basic infrastructure needed to build and run it,” ITIF President Daniel Castro said in a statement. “Data centers are to AI what highways were to the automobile: essential infrastructure that makes a transformative technology useful at scale. A country cannot lead the world in AI while opposing the infrastructure that makes that leadership possible. Blocking data centers may preserve some land in the short term, but over time it would leave America with less investment, fewer opportunities, and less ability to compete in the technologies that will shape the economy and national security.”