Americans say they would prefer living near a nuclear power plant over an AI data center

Not all of the opposition to data centers was mild, either. Some 48% of the 1,000 adults Gallup surveyed said they were "strongly opposed" to having one in their area. Just 7% of the people surveyed said they were strongly in favor of having a data center near their home. That minority cited potential economic benefits as the most common reason for their opinion.

Opponents had a wide variety of reasons, but the most common one was environmental concerns about these facilities.

The environmental argument

That's a common complaint from data center opponents. A midsize data center can use up to 300,000 gallons of water per day (2), while larger ones use as much as 5 million gallons. By 2028, the annual amount of water projected to be used by data centers will be enough to support 360,000 households' indoor water use.

Additionally, some data centers use gas power for day-to-day operations, spewing greenhouse gases and other air pollutants into the local environment. And the cooling systems at these facilities are often extremely noisy, with sounds approximating the decibel level of a motorcycle or jackhammer for hours or days at a time.

Some areas where data centers have already been built have also seen their electricity costs increase. In states like Virginia, with a high concentration of data centers, electricity prices have increased by up to 267% (3) over the past five years.

Quality of life and AI trust issues

Gallup found that 22% of respondents had quality-of-life concerns surrounding data centers, pointing to the impact on property values, health, traffic and how much space the centers take up. And 14% said they just didn't like or trust AI in general.

Among the limited number of proponents, 55% said they supported the building of data centers because they would bring more jobs to the area. Just 6%, however, said they believed AI was the future or that it was inevitable.

That split, says Gallup, could slow the AI expansion if data center operators don't find a way to work better with communities — and the construction debate is likely to be an increasingly important one during local elections.