A new Fox News national poll finds most American voters don’t want artificial intelligence data centers built anywhere near their own communities, even as a slim majority says the facilities are fine if placed somewhere remote.
The survey, conducted September 11-14 among 1,211 registered voters, found 71% oppose building AI data centers in their area, including 46% who strongly oppose them — both numbers up slightly since earlier this summer. Yet when the question shifts to remote locations, the numbers flip: 52% favor construction there, while 44% oppose it.
That contrast holds across community types. Roughly 7 in 10 urban, suburban and rural voters oppose data centers in their own backyards. But attitudes diverge once the facilities are proposed elsewhere: half of urban voters (50%) and a majority of suburban voters (57%) support building them in remote areas, while 51% of rural voters remain opposed even then.
Women, White voters, people without a college degree, and Democrats are more likely than men, non-White voters, college graduates and Republicans to oppose data centers, regardless of location.
What Moves Opinion
Voters’ support shifts depending on what they’re told about the tradeoffs. Backing drops by roughly 30 points when respondents are warned that data centers could strain local water supplies (28 points), raise energy bills (29 points), or grow to an enormous physical size (29 points).
But opposition eases when people are told about direct benefits. Support rises when data centers are framed as necessary for everyday online activity like streaming and banking (up 9 points), for critical infrastructure such as transportation and water systems (up 13 points), or for keeping pace with countries like China (up 18 points).
Broader AI Pessimism
The data center findings sit inside a wider mood of skepticism about AI generally. Majorities of voters see AI as bad rather than good for the U.S. economy (54% bad vs. 36% good), mental health (54% vs. 34%), society (56% vs. 34%), the environment (60% vs. 30%) and jobs (63% vs. 29%).
The one exception is day-to-day life, where 47% call AI a good thing versus 43% who call it bad — a narrower gap than the 11-point spread recorded in November 2025 (50% to 39%).
Overall, views of AI technology are underwater by 23 points — 37% favorable versus 60% unfavorable — a gap that has widened from 11 points in April and 9 points in July. Democrats (67% unfavorable), White voters without a college degree (65%), women (64%) and independents (64%) hold the most negative views. The most favorable numbers come from non-White men (49% favorable), voters with graduate degrees (49%) and MAGA Republicans (46%).
An Emerging Political Wedge
The poll suggests AI attitudes are already bleeding into the midterm horse race. On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lead Republicans by 7 points overall. Among voters who support data centers in their own communities, Republicans lead by 21 points, a margin that narrows to 9 points among voters who would only allow construction in remote areas. Democrats lead by at least 19 points among voters opposed to data centers anywhere.
Voters who view AI favorably back the Republican candidate in their district by 7 points; those with unfavorable views back the Democrat by 17 points.
“In this election, the bottom line is that technology is no longer just a tool. It’s a wedge issue,” said Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “As infrastructure demands force AI into the physical world, campaigns that map tech anxiety onto their voter coalitions will shape the midterm narrative.”
Voters trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle the building of AI data centers, by a 14-point margin. That advantage is largest among Black voters (D+51), voters under 30 (D+35), Hispanic voters (D+29) and independents (D+26). It narrows among White voters (D+5) and rural voters (D+7), and White rural voters are among the few groups favoring Republicans on the issue (R+4). Cross-party defection also favors Democrats: 15% of Republicans say Democrats would do better on data centers, compared with just 4% of Democrats who say the same about Republicans.
Other Findings
The poll also touched on related tech policy questions. Three-quarters of voters (76%) favor banning AI use in kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms, a position especially strong among mothers (81%). A similar majority, 72%, favors banning cellphones in K-12 classrooms, with 25% opposed.
On police use of technology, 57% of voters support prohibiting departments from using automated license plate readers such as Flock Safety cameras, versus 39% opposed. Age is the sharpest dividing line: voters under 30 oppose the cameras by 28 points, while those 65 and older support them by 7 points. Still, majorities across party lines favor a ban — Democrats by 27 points, independents by 23 points and Republicans by 6 points.
The survey was conducted by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) with a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points for the full sample; error margins are higher for subgroups.
