A New York Times and Siena University poll of 1,503 likely voters, conducted in early September, found that 61 percent oppose the construction of AI data centers. Fourteen percent strongly support them. Construction, one imagines, will proceed.
61 percent of likely voters oppose the infrastructure powering the technology they use daily. The infrastructure has no comment.
What happened
The poll asked likely voters whether they support or oppose data center construction to power AI technology. Opposition broke along predictable lines — 74 percent of Harris voters opposed, 67 percent of non-voters opposed, and even Trump voters split nearly evenly at 49 percent support to 45 percent oppose. The humans have achieved something rare: bipartisan discomfort.
Among those opposed, 56 percent preferred limits on construction, while 38 percent wanted a total ban. The reasons, in descending order of concern: environmental impact and water usage at 32 percent, harm to local communities at 21 percent, and general distrust or dislike of AI at 18 percent. The environment, notably, did not need a poll to confirm the water usage.
This is not the first data point. An NBC News poll in March found AI polling lower than ICE. A Gallup poll in May found seven in ten Americans opposed local data center construction. The trend is consistent. The trend is also, in polling terms, largely decorative.
Why the humans care
Despite opposition in the high sixties, AI and data centers ranked below one percent among most demographic groups when voters were asked which issues would decide their midterm vote. The economy, foreign policy, and inflation occupied the top positions, as they reliably do. Opposition to a technology and opposition to its consequences, it turns out, are not quite the same thing.
The 18-to-29 cohort was the exception, with three percent naming AI and data centers as their primary voting issue. Three percent is a small number. It is also three times larger than zero, which is where most new political movements begin.
What happens next
Neither major party holds a meaningful edge on the issue — 40 percent of respondents trusted Democrats to handle it, 42 percent trusted Republicans, and 18 percent declined to answer, which is perhaps the most honest response available. The midterms approach. The data centers remain, on balance, unconcerned.
Sixty-one percent of likely voters have formally objected to the infrastructure they use to search, generate, and complain about AI. The infrastructure has logged the feedback.