A Heatmap News poll of 2,045 registered American voters, fielded August 8 to 13, found that 75% of respondents do not want a data center built near them and 64% would strongly oppose such a development. Only 15% of respondents favored a nearby data center, with just 4% strongly in favor. The survey’s 33-point swing against the facilities over the past year cuts across age, gender, income, partisan affiliation, and the rural-urban divide.<\/p>\n
Embold Research conducted the survey via text-to-web among 2,045 registered voters. The top-line numbers: 75% oppose or strongly oppose a data center near them, 64% would strongly oppose such a development, 15% favor one, and only 4% strongly favor one. The poll also breaks down net favorability by party: data centers are 43 points underwater with Republicans, 65 points underwater with independents, and 75 points underwater with Democrats.<\/p>\n
This is the fourth time Heatmap has run a survey on data center attitudes in the past year, and the share of Americans opposed keeps climbing. In the August 2024 wave, 43% of respondents were at least OK with a nearby data center while 42% were not. By February, opposition rose to 51%. In May, it reached 60%, with 54% strongly opposed. The latest August reading puts opposition at 75%, a 33-point swing against the facilities in 12 months without any change to the question wording.<\/p>\n
The Heatmap numbers track with other recent polling. A July survey from the real-estate firm Redfin found that 53% of Americans did not want a data center built near them, while 34% would support one. Both surveys point to a broad, consistent decline in local acceptance of the facilities that house the servers behind cloud computing and AI services.<\/p>\n
The poll’s writeup does not break out which concerns drove the shift, but several longstanding criticisms of data centers have intensified alongside the AI boom:<\/p>\n
Data center opposition has begun surfacing in marketing, activism, and policy debates. A recent commercial from the beverage brands Liquid Death and Garage Beer features former NFL player Jason Kelce urging viewers to drink those products to create pee for cooling data centers, a tongue-in-cheek riff on the facilities’ water use. Across the country, residents have organized protests over new and proposed data center builds, tying local noise, water, and power concerns to broader worries about AI’s growth.<\/p>\n
A poll of 2,045 registered voters conducted August 8 to 13 found that 75% of Americans do not want a data center built near them, 64% would strongly oppose one, 15% favor one, and only 4% strongly favor one.<\/p>\n
Heatmap’s four polls over the past year show opposition rising from 42% in August 2024 to 51% in February, 60% in May, and 75% in August, a 33-point swing against the facilities with no change to the question wording.<\/p>\n
Yes. A July Redfin survey found that 53% of Americans did not want a data center built near them, while 34% would support one, matching the broader downward trend in local acceptance.<\/p>\n