A new CNBC All-America Economic Survey reveals a significant disconnect between Republican support for artificial intelligence development and opposition to the physical infrastructure required to power it. While President Donald Trump frames the AI race with China as a national-security imperative, the data indicates that many of his own base are wary of hosting data centers in their communities.
Nearly 55% of MAGA supporters want companies to continue developing advanced AI while Congress works on regulations, compared to 27% who favor a pause. However, only 29% of these supporters would back a data center within 10 miles of their home, while 40% oppose such a facility. Among all Republicans and Republican-leaning voters, support for a nearby data center drops to 24%. Across the entire electorate, 63% do not want a nearby AI data center, with just 13% in favor. Democrats lead the opposition, with 80% against nearby facilities and only 4% supporting them.
This resistance is forcing political recalibration ahead of midterm elections. Brad Carson, a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma and co-founder of Public First Action PAC, noted that many people are annoyed by data centers and insist on reasonable guardrails. The survey was conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies from Oct. 14-18 among 1,000 registered voters nationwide. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points overall, and plus or minus 4.38 percentage points for the half-sample of roughly 500 voters asked about data-center proximity.
The political landscape has shifted from the early AI boom, when the technology was sold as an avenue for investment and American dominance. Now, communities are fighting back over spiking electric bills, soaring electricity and water demand, noise, land use, and taxpayer subsidies. Opponents view the facilities as a symbol of who benefits from the boom and who bears the cost.
The Data Center Coalition rejects this framing. Dan Diorio of the coalition stated that the industry provides tangible benefits including jobs, investment, and tax revenue, adding that operators are committed to paying for the energy they use.
In the survey, 18% of voters cited a failure to regulate AI and data centers as their top concern if Republicans retain Congress. This tied continued military efforts in Iran and outranked concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations at 15%, health insurance subsidy cuts at 10%, and an extension of Trump's tariffs at 5%. Even among voters who want Republicans to keep control, 17% cited weak AI oversight as their top concern, second only to bringing down prices.
GOP strategists have taken note of the backlash. In August, the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned AI companies that data center opposition was threatening Sen. Jon Husted's reelection in Ohio. Husted, who helped announce a $10 billion Amazon Web Services expansion in 2024, is now promoting legislation to ensure large facilities cover their own grid costs rather than passing them to residential ratepayers. He faces Democrat Sherrod Brown, who has made data-center opposition a campaign issue.
Texas shows a similar trend. Gov. Greg Abbott halted data center permits pending grid and water-impact reviews less than a year after hailing the state as an epicenter of AI development. Trump has also signaled pressure on developers, posting on Truth Social that they should pay host communities a financial dividend and generate their own power.
Democrats currently hold a modest edge on managing the issue, with 32% of voters trusting them to handle data center expansion compared to 24% for Republicans. Overall, 52% of registered voters want advanced AI development paused until Congress passes safety regulations, while 32% favor moving ahead to keep pace with China.