- Opposition to building a data center locally rose to 61% of U.S. adults in a June-July Annenberg survey, up from 49% in the spring, while broader views of AI barely changed. [1] - The issue is entering named 2026 contests, including Ohio’s governor and Senate races, a Pennsylvania House battleground and an open House race in Wyoming. [2] - New York has d permits for new hyperscale facilities for up to one year; Pennsylvania has removed AI data centers from fast-track permitting, and FERC is reviewing how regional grids charge large new loads. [3] - Meta agreed on August 26 to pay up to $18 billion and impose time limits, nighttime blocks, age assurance and other protections for young users on Facebook and Instagram.
[4] The political fight over artificial-intelligence infrastructure is moving into the 2026 campaign season as residents challenge the electricity, water and land-use demands of new data centers. The opposition is measurable: 61% of U.S. adults said they opposed a new data center in their area in an Annenberg Public Policy Center survey conducted from June 16 to July 19, up 12 percentage points from the spring. [1]
The survey does not show a uniform rejection of AI. The share of respondents who expected AI to have a negative effect on the country over the next decade was statistically unchanged at 39%, and 68% still said the government had done too little to regulate it. The sharp movement was tied to the physical facility near a respondent’s home. [1]
That distinction matters for policymakers and companies. Communities are negotiating over substations, utility rates, cooling water, noise, tax incentives and disclosure rules, while national leaders continue to promote data-center construction as an economic and security priority. The result is a series of concrete fights over who pays and who gets a veto, rather than a single national verdict on AI.
Ohio turned infrastructure into a campaign issue #
Ohio is one of the clearest tests of whether data-center politics can affect a statewide election. The state has more than 200 data centers, according to data cited by The Washington Post, and voters in the Hilliard area told the paper that the issue was already central to their November decisions. [2]
Gov. Mike DeWine d new tax breaks for data centers after an independent report estimated that the incentives cost Ohio more than $1 billion in forgone revenue in 2025. Candidates from both parties have focused on requiring developers to cover their electricity use and related infrastructure costs. [2]
Democrat Amy Acton, running for governor, has called for facilities to bring their own energy or ensure that residents do not pay for it. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, seeking a return to the Senate, has made a similar argument in communities including Zanesville, Coshocton and Cambridge. Republican Senate candidate Jon Husted has also said data centers should offset their electricity use, even as Republican leaders remain broadly supportive of the industry. [2]
The issue reaches beyond Ohio. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Paige Cognetti has used the message “we are not for sale” in her campaign to challenge Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan in a battleground district. In Wyoming, Republican Chuck Gray, running for an open House seat, has pledged to halt data-center construction. Michigan’s open Senate race has included competing proposals for regulation, taxation and job training. [5]
Those examples show why a generalized backlash thesis would be too simple. Some labor groups support the projects because construction and maintenance create union work. State and local officials also see tax revenue and investment. The dispute is over whether those benefits compensate communities for long-term energy, environmental and land-use costs, and whether officials negotiated the terms openly.
The rules are shifting state by state #
New York has taken the most explicit statewide step. On July 14, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order pausing discretionary state environmental permits for new hyperscale data centers for up to one year while the state prepares a generic environmental impact statement. The review will examine energy demand, water use and quality, air quality and other effects. [3] The order also directs state officials to consider requiring data centers to pay more for grid access or provide their own generation, to create a grid-acceleration fund and to require developers to support new clean generation or battery storage. Hochul is separately pursuing legislation to repeal sales-tax exemptions for large facilities. [3]
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s August 2026 order removes AI data-center proposals from the fast-track permitting process, bars nondisclosure agreements for those projects and requires them to meet responsible-infrastructure standards before state agencies process permits. [6]
Federal regulators are addressing a narrower piece of the dispute. In June, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered six regional grid operators to justify or reform the tariffs governing data centers and other large electricity users. The proceeding is intended to speed connections while protecting existing customers from costs or reliability risks created by new loads. [7] Congress is also considering bills that would require large users to pay for grid upgrades and study the environmental effects of AI data centers.
[8]Texas has pursued a different route, announcing a halt on approvals for new data centers while audits examine their effect on the state’s electrical grid. President Trump has promoted a ratepayer-protection pledge under which participating technology companies agree to cover power-generation and grid-upgrade costs associated with their projects. Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon have signed on, according to Axios. [9]
Communities are measuring the trade-offs #
The strongest evidence of public resistance comes from local questions rather than abstract views of AI. Gallup found that majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents opposed a data center in their area. Opposition was higher in the Midwest and South, and environmental concern was more closely associated with opposition than concern about energy affordability. [10]
In Monterey Park, California, voters approved what The Washington Post described as the nation’s first permanent data-center ban, with more than 86% supporting it. In Nebraska, residents near proposed or potential sites in Cass County have raised concerns about land, electricity and water, while organized labor has emphasized construction and operating jobs. In East Texas, residents told reporters they feared pollution from power generation needed to serve new facilities. [2][11]
The Annenberg data also shows that familiarity with AI does not dissolve local opposition. Sixty percent of heavy AI users opposed a data center near them, roughly the same as light users and nonusers. That suggests the conflict is less about whether people understand AI and more about whether they trust developers, utilities and governments to manage the costs imposed on a particular place. [1]
For companies, the practical consequence is a longer and more political development process. Public hearings, rate cases, environmental reviews and tax-incentive negotiations can delay projects even when a state or utility wants the investment. For communities, the leverage comes from controlling permits and from turning local decisions into campaign issues. The open question is whether those negotiations produce enforceable protections or merely promises made before construction begins.
Meta’s settlement widens the accountability debate #
Meta’s August 26 settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories adds a separate example of governments using litigation to force changes in a major technology platform. Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and to adopt new protections on Instagram and Facebook, subject to court approval. [4]
The settlement requires a combined two-hour daily limit for children on the two services for five years, with mandatory s after periods of continuous use. It also imposes nighttime blocks from midnight to 6 a.m., removes push notifications during school hours, requires stronger age-assurance measures and expands parental controls and protections against bullying, eating-disorder content, suicide and self-harm material. An independent auditor and the settling states will assess implementation and effectiveness. [12]
The terms also contain an industry-wide trigger: if Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube adopt comparable measures, the daily limit would fall to one hour and remain in place for 10 years. The agreement separately resolves claims involving the sharing of nonpublic Facebook-user information with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica. [12]
That settlement should not be treated as proof that voters have formed one coherent anti-technology movement. The data-center disputes concern public infrastructure, local control and household costs. The Meta case concerns product design, children’s safety and the use of state enforcement against a platform. They overlap in one narrower respect: both show governments responding after companies scaled faster than existing rules or public consent. The details of enforcement, funding and compliance will determine whether either response changes corporate behavior beyond the immediate defendant. [4]
Companies mentioned #
Further sources #
[1] Annenberg Public Policy Center survey of 1,320 U.S. adults, conducted June 16-J… ↗
[2] The Washington Post reported on Ohio voters, data-center incentives, candidates… ↗ [3] New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s July 14, 2026 executive-order announcement describ… ↗
[[4] The Colorado attorney general’s announcement describes Meta’s August 26, 2026 m… ↗](https://coag.gov/press-releases/weiser-announces-historic-settlement-with-meta/)
[[5] The Associated Press reported on campaigns in Pennsylvania, Wyoming and Michiga… ↗](https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-bipartisan-opposition-trump-democrats-a419be82fb6b32a8fc048ac7ffbd1de3)
[6] Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s August 2026 executive order removes AI data-ce… ↗+6 more
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