NYT-Siena poll finds 61 percent of likely voters oppose AI data center construction

Broad opposition to the AI buildout

A New York Times/Siena poll released Tuesday shows that public hostility toward AI infrastructure is not a niche sentiment. According to The Verge, which reported the figures, 61 percent of the 1,503 likely voters surveyed in early September said they oppose the construction of data centers built to power AI, while only 14 percent said they strongly support it. The Verge notes that the survey was conducted before the recent AI safety slowdown discussion.

The partisan split is real but lopsided

Opposition is heaviest among voters who backed Kamala Harris in 2024, 74 percent of whom said they are against data center construction, and among people who did not vote, at 67 percent. Among 2024 Donald Trump voters the picture is nearly even: 49 percent support construction and 45 percent oppose it. As The Verge points out, even the friendliest group in the sample is only marginally net-positive on the issue.

Among voters who oppose data centers, the preferred responses vary: 56 percent said they support limits on construction, while 38 percent went further and said they would prefer a total ban.

Environment and local impact top the stated concerns

The poll also asked opponents why they hold their view. Concerns about the environment and water usage led the list at 32 percent, followed by the impact on local communities at 21 percent and a general distrust or dislike of AI at 18 percent. Worries about regulation and the economy trailed at 10 and 9 percent, respectively.

Consistent with earlier polling

The result fits an established pattern. The Verge points to an NBC News poll from March in which AI polled lower than ICE, and a Gallup survey in May that found seven in ten Americans opposed to local construction of AI data centers.

But it is not yet a decisive voting issue

Despite that unpopularity, AI and data centers rank near the bottom of the issues voters say matter most to their midterm vote. The category registered at less than one percent for most demographic groups, with younger voters as the outlier: three percent of 18-to-29-year-olds named it, still well behind the economy, foreign policy, inflation and opposition to Trump and Republicans.

On which party voters trust to handle the issue, the 554 respondents asked split almost evenly, with 42 percent favoring Republicans, 40 percent favoring Democrats and 18 percent saying they did not know or refusing to answer. Voters in each party overwhelmingly picked their own side.

Why it matters

The poll quantifies a political problem the AI industry cannot easily lobby away: a clear majority of likely voters, to varying degrees across both parties, objects to the physical infrastructure underpinning the technology. That matters because the industry's growth plans depend on a rapid, capital-intensive data center buildout, and opposition anchored in water use, environmental strain and community impact gives local and national politicians cover to slow, condition or block projects.

The nearly even split among Trump voters suggests the issue does not break cleanly along partisan lines, so neither party clearly owns it. Meanwhile, the low salience numbers cut both ways. Few voters will cast their midterm ballot primarily over AI, but opposition is broad and, for a sizable share, intense enough to favor outright bans — while active support is thin. That asymmetry is the politically consequential signal: politicians face little reward for championing data centers and measurable risk for permitting them.