The pushback against data centers has been unlike any public backlash seen in decades. One University of Virginia professor studied that pushback and, in a new report, asks what people are so afraid of.
Very rarely does an issue unite Democrats and Republicans, but in 2026, data centers do. Nearly 40 states and localities across the country said no by large margins to data centers in some way via votes on Tuesday. And polling ahead of the election found about 7 in 10 Americans said they oppose data centers in their community.
UVA National Security Institute Behavioral scientist Maura Austin is the author of the report titled “The Data Center Backlash Isn’t About Data Centers.” She compared it to the nuclear power fears that cropped up back in the 80s, but it’s a bit different now thanks to facilities’ link to artificial intelligence.
“A lot of people wonder if AI is going to take their jobs, disrupt economic markets," Austin told Radio IQ Friday morning. "We think people are channeling that resistance into data centers.”
Among data points in Austin’s research was a kind of word-cloud, how often a term was used to describe data center concerns, and how that use was broken down politically.
“They were using words like ‘water,’ ‘energy,’ ‘resources,’ and even ‘environment,’" Austin said. "So, that’s not common to see Republicans and Democrats converging on the same language.”
Does Austin think there’s a way for the industry to win the public back?
“Direct payouts turned out the best. It still didn’t yield ‘average’ support, but it did perform the best," she said. "But I think that speaks to the economic worries that people are having.”
Austin adds that water-efficient cooling technology and reduced noise pollution likely aren’t enough to overcome the opposition.
