Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper
“The data, as it were, are in: The American people really, really, really hate data centers. A poll conducted by Heatmap News finds that over the course of a year, opinion has gone from 43 percent net support and 42 percent net opposition to 75 percent net opposition and 15 percent net support—a swing of 61 points. Fully 61 percent of Americans now say they strongly oppose the facilities. Dozens of them have been canceled. In every demographic you can think of—urban or rural, young or old, even Democrat or Republican—huge majorities of respondents register disapproval. Brothers, sisters, come together! This has Republican politicians scrambling to memory-hole their very recent history of being fanatically pro-AI and pro–data center. And one piece of legislation in particular is going to haunt nearly all of them in Congress.” (08/31/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/31/data-centers-ai-republicans-big-tech-american-democracy/