Tech companies dealing with data center protests locally are fighting a losing battle.

[usonian]

Only 8% of opponents actually live near one


https://fortune.com/2026/06/22/data-center-opposition-goes-national-despite-only-8-percent-living-near-one/

By Tristan Bove
Contributing Reporter
June 22, 2026, 1:15 PM ET

Tech giants jostling with small-town opposition as they embark on their massive data center buildout plans risk forgetting a crucial detail: disdain for data centers, and the AI backlash at large, has gone national.

Data center opposition is no longer contained to the individual towns and counties playing host to new construction, according to findings from a survey published Monday by Milltown Partners, a global advisory firm. According to the report, only 8% of Americans who say they oppose data centers actually live near one, suggesting an even steeper mountain to climb for AI companies racing to get the U.S. public on its side.

Public opposition has thrown a wrench into the AI industry’s sweeping data center construction plans. The largest U.S. tech companies have allocated a record $725 billion in capital expenditure for this year, the vast majority of which is earmarked for data centers—the massive server farms used to train, deploy, and maintain AI models.

Opponents have themselves heard, however. In the first quarter of 2026, public backlash delayed or blocked at least 75 data center projects nationwide, worth a cumulative $130 billion, according to the Data Center Watch Initiative, a monitoring project. That was not far off from the total losses companies incurred from blocked projects in all of 2025, and suggested a scale of discontent going well beyond the relatively small clusters where data centers are actually being built.

People hate AI, despite brilliant results, like this REI-sold bicycle with two sets of handlebars, so you can "steer by the seat of your pants" (NOT)




https://www.businessinsider.com/rei-backlash-ai-ad-instagram-blamed-meta-ai-tool-2026-6?op=1

[Bluetus]

1. MOREOVER, this is THE potent issue of the 2026 election cycle

Not data centers, per se, but all they stand for:

* Arrogant billionaire MFers
* Tyranny by AI
* Complete disdain for any laws (see DOGE)
* The surveillance state including ICE Palantir et al
* Rule by oligarchy rather than democracy
* Gross waste of resources, especially water and electricity

And worse than that, there are 100X more evil things they can do with these technologies if they are allowed to build it out.

If any Dem candidate is not able to articulate all of these things very clearly, then they probebly should have retired in the last century.

We MUST claim this issue before the Republicans do.

[usonian]

2. Bernie and AOC are ALL OVER this issue.

Will Dem "leaders" follow their powerful lead, or try to run away from them?

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/us-bernie-senators-sanders-and-aoc-introduce-bill-for-nationwide-ban-on-data-centers/

But centrism!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221327801

Choose wisely!

[Bluetus]

4. About the followers ...

Last edited Thu Jun 25, 2026, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

"Will Dem 'leaders' follow ..."

Some are already. Some are smart enough to learn.

But many, frankly, just aren't connected with reality enough to get it, or else they just don't care. We need to move them out, even if Trump and the Dem Centerists want to call us "communists" and "socialists". The antidote to that name-calling is to talk about specific solutions, like:

"We will fight to pass legislation that requires every new data center to build carbon-neutral energy farms (i.e. wind and solar, maybe eventually fusion) that produce DOUBLE the amount of energy the data centers will consume, and that excess energy will go to the taxpauers directly to lower their electric bills each month."

Now, here's the trick. Democrats instintively jump into "whatabout" mode, raising all sorts of detailed questions about how this might work. Stop. Just don't. Let the Republicans try to attack that proposal. Stick with the big concept that data centers must MORE than pay their way on electrical and water usage. When they want to locate in areas where water is in short supply, make them pay 10 times the consumer rates. If they really want the data centers, then they can move them closer to the coasts and they can pay the energy costs of desalination to get the water they need for their data centers.

[usonian]

5. Lazy, "We're here only for the home stretch" leaders let the GOP define the issues.

Where were they when Bernie and AOC were raising hell all over the country?



Let people know who their real tormentors are. Don't let the GOP paint you as one, And don't cater to said Epstein Class exploiters.

[dalton99a]

3. +1