Americans do not want AI data centers in their backyards

Gallup found that more than 70% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their area, with only 7% saying they strongly favor them, based on March and April 2026 surveys of 1,000 randomly selected adults and 2,054 Gallup Panel members. The result is notable because Americans said they would rather live near a nuclear power plant than a data center, and opposition to data centers exceeded the 63% peak opposition ever recorded for nuclear plant construction.

Over 70 percent of Americans oppose AI data center construction in their area, according to a new Gallup survey . Just seven percent said they were "strongly" in favor of new data centers. According to Gallup, data centers are so strongly disliked that Americans would prefer to live near a nuclear power plant than a data center - even at its peak, opposition to nuclear power plant construction topped out at 63 percent. Gallup's data is based on a March 2026 survey of 1,000 randomly-selected American adults in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, along with an April 2026 survey of 2,054 adults "who are members of the Gallup Panel." … Read the full story at The Verge.