A poll released on Thursday shows a massive collapse in support for building artificial intelligence data centers among Republican, Democratic, and independent voters.
The poll, which was conducted by Embold Research and published by Heatmap Pro, shows that 75% of Americans now oppose building AI data centers in their area, including 61% registering strong opposition.
Just one year before, 42% of Americans said they opposed AI data centers in their areas, compared with 43% who expressed support.
The collapse in support has also been uniform across all demographics, the pollsters found.
"If you can think of a cohort of Americans, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t welcome a data center in their area," explained Heatmap executive editor Robinson Meyer. "The shift against the facilities is represented across age, gender, income, partisan ID, and the rural-urban divide. Data centers are 43 points underwater with Republicans, 65 points underwater with independents, and 75 points underwater with Democrats."
Meyer further described the drop in support for data centers as "a swift, massive shift in US public opinion on a scale that I wouldn’t have once thought possible."
Other observers expressed similar shock over how quickly US voters have turned against data centers, which President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted as a great source of jobs, even though the facilities employ very few people relative to their size once completed.
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen public opinion shift this quickly on an issue," wrote Adam Carlson, founding partner at Zenith Polls.
Justin Slaughter, vice president of regulatory affairs at venture capital firm Paradigm, expressed astonishment at how quickly Americans' views on AI data centers had fallen in just the span of a year.
"I’ve NEVER seen this," Slaughter wrote. "Data center opponents are converting supporters not just to neutral but to opposition."
Technologist Ramez Naam, a former computer scientist at Microsoft, described the shift against data centers as "crazy" and asked, "When's the last time political opinions on an issue shifted that fast?"
The social media account for Oil PAC Tracker pointed to several reasons for US voters to distrust the AI industry, including developers forcing local government officials to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) related to data center development and predictions from tech CEOs about the technology putting millions of people out of work.
"Sign secret NDAs, arrest people at city council meetings, surveil, tout job displacement, and raise utility bills and pollution," wrote Oil PAC Tracker, "this is what you expect."
Max Steele, senior director of communications at gun safety advocacy organization Everytown, sarcastically argued that the AI industry's collapse in popularity was an impressive achievement.
"Credit where credit is due," Steele wrote, "the tech sector has managed to unite a deeply divided country at a time of maximal partisanship."
