August 11, 2026
Mike De Sisti/USA Today via Reuters Connect
Roughly 3 in 5 American adults oppose the construction of new data centers, like the OpenAI and Oracle project in Wisconsin pictured above, in their area.
The American public is souring on data centers at a rapid clip. New polling from the University of Pennsylvania reveals that 61% — or about 3 in 5 — adults are against the construction of the facilities in their communities, a 12% spike since Penn posed the question earlier this year.
The school's Annenberg Public Policy Center said this jump is the largest shift on any of the AI queries in its survey. Opposition rose from 49% during February-March polling to 61% in the latest June-July survey, while support for local data centers dropped from 21% to 14%. The sentiment crossed party lines, with 69% of Democrats, 54% of Republicans and 53% of independents saying they would be against new data center projects in their area.
Views on AI, as recorded in the survey, are otherwise largely unchanged. Two-thirds (or 68%) of respondents said the government has done too little to regulate AI, a majority similar to the percentage observed in February-March. Additionally, 39% believed AI's impact on the U.S. over the next decade would be negative compared with only 18% who said it would be positive. These numbers are also nearly identical to the February-March findings.
"What stands out is the contrast," Shawn Patterson Jr., an Annenberg Public Policy Center research analyst, said in a statement. "Americans’ expectations for how AI will affect the country, and their views toward regulation, are essentially unchanged since March. Over the same period, however, opposition to a data center in their area rose 12 points. That's a dramatic move over a relatively short period of time."
Respondents were broadly pessimistic about AI's impact on American life. The survey included questions about whether AI would have a positive or negative effect in six areas: employment and jobs; environmental protection and sustainability; education and skill development; the accuracy of news and information online; personal privacy and data security; and children's safety online. All of them skewed negative, particularly personal privacy and children's safety online.
The February-March survey revealed one exception to the rule. A 57% majority believed AI would benefit medical research compared with 16% who said it would harm it, constituting a net positive of 41 percentage points.
These mostly negative views are reflected in community organizing against data centers in Pennhurst, Limerick Township and other southeastern Pennsylvania locales. Plymouth Township residents, for instance, have been fighting a proposed project at the former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill for months. While state lawmakers are considering numerous bills to impose checks on data centers, some local activists have called for a three-year moratorium on all new projects.
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