Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
Somewhat surprisingly, data centers are now right up there with affordability as a top campaign issue. Polls show this, and spending confirms that the candidates have absorbed the message. A recent poll of the 37 most competitive House districts, sponsored by the Cook Political Report, shows that 85% of the voters in these districts have heard about data centers and half have heard a great deal about them. And they don't like what they have heard. Only 28% want one in their community and 63% are opposed, with 44% strongly opposed. Campaigning on something 44% of the voters strongly oppose is generally not seen as a smart strategy. Even among Republicans, a slight majority (48% to 44%) oppose new construction. Among swing voters, it is much worse, 69% to 17% in opposition. The poll also showed that among swing voters, 64% are worried about the risks of AI whereas only 9% are excited about the opportunities presented by AI. Yet Donald Trump has actively supported more data centers. How's that for being tone-deaf?
Democrats get it (finally). They have spent $38 million on ads opposing data centers. What is especially interesting is the content of the ads. Sure, they take aim at electricity and water rates and the unsightliness of the data centers, but they go way beyond that. Many of the ads attack corporate greed, transactional politics, and the sheer bulldozing of community sentiment (typically when a town council approves a data center in return for a token gift to the local police or fire department and against the strong wishes of the residents as expressed in public hearings).
For example, in PA-08, an R+4 district represented by Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), challenger Paige Cogetti ran an ad saying: "Big companies have come before. Taken what they wanted and left us with their mess to clean up. Now it's data centers." PA-08 is coal country, so people there know a thing or two about business interests who make a mess and then pack up their things and go home. Cogetti's ad, and many others, are not about the price of electricity, but a direct attack on big (tech) companies, which have rarely been as unpopular as they are now. Very occasionally, it goes the other way, with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who is a tough fight in his D+1 Hudson Valley district, attacking challenger Cait Conley's past work for an AI company.
Republicans know all this and want Trump to pipe down about data centers and AI, but he knows better than they do, so no dice. (V)