In a UMass Amherst poll reported by Stateline, 65% oppose an AI data center in their own community and 11% support one. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the only reason communities would not want them "is if they want to end up being backwards and poor." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has since paused environmental permits and grid connections for new data centers, and Ohio's Republican nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, vows to halt new data-center approvals on his first day (CBS News).
The numbers
- About 75% of data centers under construction and 80% of those in planning are in predominantly Republican states (Cleanview Research, via CBS).
- At least three dozen cities, counties and townships vote in November on measures that could ban data centers (Stateline).