Pull up a chart of who does not want a data center built nearby, and something looks off. Conservative Republicans oppose them more than moderate Republicans do, which puts the most conservative voters closer to liberal Democrats than to the middle of their own party. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a chart where conservative Republicans are closer to liberal Democrats,” said Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. In a country that agrees on almost nothing, that alignment is worth a second look.
Not a fringe
The data center backlash is not a handful of angry neighbors. Seven in ten Americans say they do not want one built in their community, a higher share than opposes a nuclear plant, a pattern researchers at Harvard have been tracking as it spreads. More than 800 groups across 49 states are fighting roughly 1,500 planned projects, and tens of billions of dollars in builds have already been blocked or delayed this year. Of the politicians who have taken a public position against a project, 55 percent are Republican and 45 percent are Democrat.
Same enemy, opposite reasons
What looks like one coalition is really two, arriving at the same place through different doors. On the right, the objections are tax giveaways, strain on the grid, property rights, and a distant company reshaping a town without asking. On the left, they are water, emissions, and who pays when the bills climb. The motives do not match. The vote does. As one observer told Talking Points Memo, the draw is having “real, actual villains” both sides can see.
Already moving votes
The data center backlash has left the comment period and reached the ballot box. Two Democrats won landslide upsets for the Georgia Public Service Commission, the first since 2007, running on energy bills and data centers, even as some Georgia Republicans raised their own questions about the facilities’ water and power use. In Virginia, the country’s largest data-center market, candidates ran on making the facilities pay more, and a seat changed hands over it. Voters in Monterey Park, California banned data centers outright with 86 percent of the vote. Towns in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Maryland have paused, capped, or put them to a referendum. Arizona, where the fight runs through the power bill and the water table, passed one of the country’s strictest tax-break moratoriums, and in Pima County voters rejected a project only to watch the state move to override them.
Why this one crosses the line
The usual reason an issue goes bipartisan is that it is small or symbolic. This one is neither. What puts the rural conservative and the urban progressive in the same room is not a shared philosophy. It is a shared position: someone far away decided their town would carry the cost of the AI boom, and the first they heard of it was a rezoning notice. That experience does not sort by party.
Whether it lasts
The people who study this are not betting on permanence. The unity could fray, they warn, as the midterms approach and the issue turns into something to win with rather than something to agree on. It is also running against a well-funded current: while towns fight projects one at a time, the AI industry is spending at record levels in Washington to freeze state regulation before the local victories can add up. A problem everyone shares is, for a campaign, a problem to be divided. The thing to watch is whether the backlash still looks bipartisan once candidates need it to belong to one side.
The opposition makes the headlines. The alignment is the part worth studying. When the most conservative and the most progressive voters land on the same side of anything in 2026, the useful question is what they are seeing that the people in the middle are not. The safe bet is that it does not survive the midterms intact, because a unifying issue is exactly the kind of thing a campaign exists to split. For now, the data center is the rare thing a divided country can point at together.
FAQ
Is opposition to data centers bipartisan?
Yes. Roughly seven in ten Americans oppose local data center construction, including 75 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans, and conservative Republicans oppose them at a higher rate than moderate Republicans. Of politicians taking public positions against projects, 55 percent are Republican and 45 percent Democrat.
How many data center projects have been blocked?
More than 800 groups across 49 states are fighting about 1,500 projects, and tens of billions of dollars in builds have been blocked or delayed in 2026.
Why do the left and right oppose data centers?
For different reasons that reach the same conclusion. The right cites tax breaks, grid strain, and property rights; the left cites water, emissions, and rising bills.
Will the bipartisan coalition last?
Analysts expect it to weaken as the 2026 midterms turn the issue into a partisan weapon.
Related Stories
- The Data Center Bill You Never Voted On
- Pima County Voted Against a Data Center. The State Wants to Override Them
Is opposition to data centers bipartisan?
Yes. Roughly seven in ten Americans oppose local data center construction, including 75 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans, and conservative Republicans oppose them at a higher rate than moderate Republicans. Of politicians taking public positions against projects, 55 percent are Republican and 45 percent Democrat.
How many data center projects have been blocked?
More than 800 groups across 49 states are fighting about 1,500 projects, and tens of billions of dollars in builds have been blocked or delayed in 2026.
Why do the left and right oppose data centers?
For different reasons that reach the same conclusion. The right cites tax breaks, grid strain, and property rights; the left cites water, emissions, and rising bills.
Will the bipartisan coalition last?
Analysts expect it to weaken as the 2026 midterms turn the issue into a partisan weapon.