Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., hold a news conference on the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Less than a year ago, local and state leaders were bragging about the jobs and tax revenue that data centers had brought to their communities. Now, amid a public backlash, many are running from them like scalded dogs.
In January, a Politico poll found that Americans were more receptive than opposed to having data centers built nearby. Six months later, a new survey shows the reverse: 41 percent oppose a data center near them, up from 28 percent in January, while support dropped from 37 to 24 percent.
Data center jitters run especially deep among Democrats. But skepticism also has risen among President Trump’s 2024 voters, who are now split on the issue despite his hyperbolic endorsement of data centers as “big, strong, bold … Money Machines.”
If these growing public qualms lead to a more deliberate, community-building approach to data centers, rather than today’s frenzied digital goldrush, so much the better. But if instead they trigger a panicky rush to freeze all new construction, they will weaken U.S. economic innovation and growth and pass the baton of AI leadership to China.
The sudden cratering of public support for data centers stems from a confluence of popular anxieties. Most important are worries about spiking energy and water bills in host communities and the incipient fear that AI robots might be able to do our jobs better than we can.
The first problem is solvable and is being solved. The big tech “hyperscalers” like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have agreed to pay for the extra energy they need. To protect ratepayers, elected leaders in Virginia and Minnesota have created special utility rates for large electricity users.
The second has yet to materialize. Michael Mandel — chief economist at my organization, Progressive Policy Institute — noted that even with recent tech layoffs, the number of Americans working in computer and mathematical occupations is at an all-time high. And despite claims that AI is eliminating entry level jobs, youth unemployment this year (7.1 percent) is well below the 25-year average of 9.7 percent.
In fact, surging investment in data centers — the backbone of America’s digital economy — is a key factor driving U.S. economic growth. Moody’s estimates that capital investment in U.S. data centers totaled $387 billion last year and was projected to grow to $700 billion this year.
That would make building data centers the biggest U.S. infrastructure project since the interstate highway system, which according to internal Progressive Policy Institute calculations also cost around $700 billion in 2026 dollars.
For policymakers, the right question is how to build this essential infrastructure in ways that meet communities’ needs for abundant and affordable energy, water conservation, property and sales tax revenue, discrete siting and noise abatement and public-private cooperation in training local workers for the construction and IT jobs that the centers create.
The wrong answer is the national moratorium on data centers proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.). This is Luddism dressed up as progressivism.
Also jumping on the anti-data center bandwagon are climate activists hoping to revive their political relevance and fundraising mojo following the collapse of the Green New Deal. That is bad news for Democrats who remember the failure of their anti-fracking crusade, which backfired in states with shale resources like the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) recently signed an executive order imposing a one-year pause in new data center construction. Jennifer Granholm (D), the former Michigan governor who also served as President Biden’s secretary of Energy, notes, has a better idea.
“A moratorium is useful only if it leads to a better deal. It simply sends projects elsewhere. New York loses not only jobs and investment, but also its chance to negotiate terms that could lower electricity bills, modernize the grid, and deliver lasting benefits to local communities.”
Granholm urges state and local leaders to work with private investors to build cleaner and more resilient energy grids.
“States could encourage developers to invest in home batteries, rooftop solar, heap pumps, virtual power plants or other distributed energy resources that permanently lower household electricity bills while making the local grid more resilient.”
Democrats would be wise to follow Granholm’s lead. And they should not allow climate activists to hold data centers hostage to quixotic demands for abolishing fossil fuels.
America will need a lot more energy — including natural gas and modular nuclear reactors — not only to run data centers and train ever more sophisticated AI models, but also to fuel a growing economy and backstop grids as more renewable energy gradually comes online.
Activists may block data centers, but they cannot stop the future. U.S. technological advances historically have raised living standards for all Americans. Rather than working voters into a lather against data centers, center-left leaders should work with tech companies to ensure that AI does the same.
Will Marshall is founder and president of Progressive Policy Institute.
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