{"slug": "data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey", "title": "Data center opposition surged from 42 to 75 percent in just one year, survey finds", "summary": "75 percent of Americans now oppose building a data center near them, up from 42 percent a year ago, according to a Heatmap News survey. The survey, which asked the same question repeatedly over the past year, found 61 percent are strongly opposed, and Heatmap News journalist Robinson Meyer called it 'a swift, massive shift.' The findings align with a Gallup poll from May that found 71 percent opposed, and data centers have become a top campaign issue.", "body_md": "# Data center opposition surged from 42 to 75 percent in just one year, survey finds\n\n**75 percent of Americans now oppose building a data center near them, according to a Heatmap News survey.** 61 percent are \"strongly opposed.\" A year ago, opinion was nearly even at 43 percent in favor and 42 percent against. A slim majority first emerged in February. [Heatmap News journalist Robinson Meyer](https://x.com/robinsonmeyer/status/2090457322506141760) calls it \"a swift, massive shift.\"\n\nThe survey asked the same question repeatedly over the past year. Breakdowns by party and urban-rural splits are in the [full report at Heatmap News](https://heatmap.news/daily/data-center-opposition-poll-collapse).\n\nThe numbers roughly match a [Gallup poll from May](https://the-decoder.com/americans-would-rather-live-next-to-a-nuclear-plant-than-an-ai-data-center-gallup-poll-finds/), which found 71 percent opposed, 48 percent \"strongly.\" Data centers now [rank above racism and Israel](https://the-decoder.com/ai-and-data-centers-have-leapfrogged-israel-racism-and-crypto-as-us-campaign-topics/) as a campaign issue. The top concerns are local power costs, water use, and land use.\n\n```\nAI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans\n\n\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive \"AI Radar\" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section.\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe now\n```\n\nSource:", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey", "canonical_source": "https://the-decoder.com/data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey-finds/", "published_at": "2026-08-21 18:25:44+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-21 18:43:39.102850+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Heatmap News", "Robinson Meyer", "Gallup"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/data-center-opposition-surged-from-42-to-75-percent-in-just-one-year-survey.jsonld"}}