AI Skeptic Coalition Coalesces as 58% of Voters Oppose Local Data Centers
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Jul 25
AI Skeptic Coalition Coalesces as 58% of Voters Oppose Local Data Centers
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Jul 25
Summary
Religious leaders, labor unions and local activists are converging into a broader anti-AI political bloc, turning concerns over jobs, wealth concentration and human control into a potential election issue.
58% of registered voters oppose building data centers locally, including 53% of conservative Republicans and 74% of liberal Democrats, according to a June Yale poll cited in the report.
Donald Trump has tried to blunt backlash by touting developer and utility pledges not to raise electricity prices, but he also urged governors to embrace data-center projects and the money they could bring.
Evangelical leader Walter Kim echoed Pope Leo XIV's call for AI guardrails, while AFL-CIO chief Liz Shuler and Teamsters president Sean O'Brien pressed politicians to put workers ahead of algorithms.
With midterm voting 101 days away, the report argues that resistance to AI and data-center expansion is cutting across usual partisan lines and could test Republican gains with union and religious voters.