While AI wasn’t the only issue on voters’ minds in November, data centers certainly contributed to the Democratic Party’s sweeping victory. An October poll from Reuters and Ipsos found that 69% of American adults agree that the U.S. needs “stricter AI regulation.” Registered Democrats were even more likely to have issues with AI, at 80%.
Pew Research Center also found that data center construction is getting increasingly unpopular. Their research showed that the percentage of Americans who view data centers as a danger to the environment jumped from 39% in January to 54% in September. About 50% of Americans now believe living near a data center will raise their energy costs.
Democrats demand more data center moratoriums
With so much controversy around data centers, many Democrats promised stricter regulation on the AI industry on the campaign trail. Vermont’s Independent Senator Bernie Sanders also took to X on Nov. 4 to tout the dozens of AI data center moratoriums that have passed so far. Sanders argues that “Americans don’t want Big Tech oligarchs wrecking the environment, gutting jobs and threatening humanity’s future,” adding a rallying cry for a “NATIONAL DATA CENTER MORATORIUM NOW.”
According to Ballotpedia’s tracking, 40 local ballot measures restricting data centers passed on Nov. 3.
Once Democrats get into Congress, some analysts believe they could introduce policies to slow down the AI industry. For instance, speaking with Reuters, Ed Mills, Raymond James’ policy research manager, said, “The probability of legislation is much higher than people anticipate.”
For his part, Musk suggested an otherworldly way around any new legislation. Amid these calls for reform, the SpaceX CEO hinted he’s setting his sights on the stars for new data center projects. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” he posted on X the day after Election Day.
As it stands, Democrats will take 253 seats in the House of Representatives and 54 in the Senate. While that’s not enough to reach the two-thirds vote needed to override any President Trump’s veto, it does give them majorities in both chambers of Congress.
The data center debate triggers a $2 trillion tech selloff
AI-related tech stocks were already pretty weak heading into the midterms. However, on Nov. 5, investors went into full-on panic mode, selling off an estimated $2.3 trillion in tech stocks, according to Bloomberg.
This was the response to investors digesting the Democrats’ resounding victory in the midterms. Bloomberg’s data showed the NASDAQ-100 index fell over 6% on the day, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) nosedived by 9.2%.
