A Gallup survey shows that 71% of Americans oppose building AI data centers near their homes, while 53% oppose building nuclear power plants near their homes. Why do they oppose building AI data centers? Respondents' reasons include water usage and grid pressure, potential impacts on residents' quality of life such as worsening traffic congestion, and rising water and electricity prices. Gallup also surveyed attitudes toward this issue among people with different political leanings. The survey shows that 56% of Democrats oppose installing server clusters near their homes more strongly than Republicans. Among Republicans, 39% strongly oppose it, 24% have reservations, and only about one-third expressed support. The contradiction is that for AI to be applied in the United States, facilities that can handle the required computing power must be built, but most Americans hold a "Not in My Backyard" (NIMBY) attitude toward new data centers, and this attitude is growing stronger.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx
https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/05/15/0217208/americans-would-rather-have-a-nuclear-plant-in-their-backyard-than-a-datacenter