76% of U.S. Voters Reject Local Data Centers as Backlash Spreads Worldwide

Seventy-six percent of U.S. midterm voters oppose building data centers in their communities, and 57% believe AI will do more to hurt society than help, according to NBC News' exit poll on Nov. 3. Within six days, the same objections surfaced at a Dutch construction site, in Scottish government files, in a Finnish police inquiry and in a Sydney masterplan. The industry has a siting problem, and it is now global.

What did the U.S. vote actually decide?

Local ballots delivered the sharper verdict. Ballotpedia counted 41 data-center measures across 10 states; voters backed restrictions or rejected easier development in 40 of them. Ohio alone held 21. The single exception was Harwood, North Dakota, where voters rejected extra review of industrial projects.

The exit poll's 76% is the highest of three autumn readings. An NBC News Decision Desk poll in late August found 69% opposed to local AI data centers, including 57% of Republicans and 81% of Democrats. A CNBC survey in mid-October put opposition at 63% for a data center within 10 miles of home, with 13% supportive. Wording and samples differ, so the trend is indicative rather than precise.

The numbers match what residents said before the vote. A database of 10,202 public comments at 417 local governments found 90.5% opposed, with water use the most common concern. Ohio elected Democrat Amy Acton as governor on a "conditional moratorium" platform, and the county where Meta had planned a 700,000-square-foot facility passed a ban. Texas, which holds 23% of planned AI campus capacity in MLQ's tracker, elected a governor pledged to an approval freeze.

How did Europe and Australia respond?

On Nov. 6, more than 100 activists entered the site of Microsoft's planned three-tower campus in Amsterdam's Sloterdijk district, where Microsoft is sole tenant and Pure Data Centres plans to invest more than $1 billion. Police made arrests. The Stop Dirty Data Centres coalition — more than 100 groups across 15 countries by the organisers' count, 16 by Reuters' — demanded an immediate moratorium on new large-scale projects. A march to the Scottish Parliament is set for Nov. 14.

The Scottish papers carry weight because they come from inside government. Under FOI release, the deputy director for domestic climate change wrote that hyperscale plans had "clearly significant impacts and risks," and warned that locals could "bear the brunt of increased electricity prices." Scotland, the official wrote, faces water shortages in growing parts of the country, and data centers "could badly impact other water dependent industries and livelihoods." Other papers called public perception a "strategic risk" and predicted delays and reputational damage.

The biggest Scottish test is CX Tech's roughly 1 GW application, valued at £16.5 billion, beside the former Chapelcross nuclear site near Annan. Comments on its environmental report close Nov. 29, with government guidance due in December.

Finland escalated further. Oulu police opened a criminal investigation on Oct. 29 into suspected environmental degradation at Google's Muhos site, citing "ambiguities and deficiencies in drainage and water management." About 330 hectares were cleared at Muhos and nearly 200 at Kajaani; the regulator has halted work at both pending impact assessments. Google's Finland country manager apologised while maintaining the clearances complied with law. The sites sit within a €13 billion investment plan; police expect to finish in 2027.

In Sydney, Stockland and John Boyd Properties dropped a 25,400-square-meter data center from their Kogarah Golf Club redevelopment after council and resident objections.

San Diego added a federal wrinkle. Rep. Sara Jacobs said she is "fighting to block a proposed 400-megawatt data center" on Navy land at NAVWAR, which would be California's largest. The city's 45-day permit moratorium is largely symbolic there, since federal land sits outside its authority — hence pending federal legislation.

What are the builders saying?

OpenAI moved first. Two days after the vote it promised its owned campuses will pay full power and grid-connection costs, post financial assurances against stranded costs, publish water and energy use, and stop asking officials to sign NDAs. The Wall Street Journal reported senior leaders discussed resetting 2027 capacity plans the morning after the election; no other outlet has confirmed it, and CFO Sarah Friar said on Nov. 6 the company will keep investing.

Meta president Dina Powell McCormick said U.S. build-outs "will be very challenging" and that "every hyperscaler is now thinking about 'Do we need to build outside the United States?'" The week's foreign news complicates that exit. Amsterdam, Muhos, Annan and Sydney each raised identical objections on power, water, land and transparency.

Smaller players smell an opening. Equinix noted its typical 30 to 60 MW sites fall below most proposed U.S. limits; CoreWeave asked Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa to let permitted projects finish while offering to help write new rules.

Who pays for the grid?

Utilities have not blinked. Duke Energy's large-load pipeline held at 15.4 GW; Sempra said Oncor's next five-year capital plan will run about 20% larger, with data centers the biggest Texas load driver. The Senate permitting bill, headed for a floor vote, would make data centers pay the full cost of grid upgrades.

The price evidence cuts both ways. A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found that from 2019 to 2024, states with the fastest load growth saw real retail prices fall as fixed costs spread over more demand. The relationship lost significance for residential prices alone, and the authors doubt it holds under nationwide load growth. This explains why the week's corporate answers were cost-allocation promises rather than appeals to averages.

What happens to AI capex?

Goldman Sachs raised its 2030 global forecast to 273 GW, implying roughly $8.5 trillion of cumulative capex, while listing community opposition among the constraints. BMI estimates 53% of projected U.S. hyperscaler pipeline growth sits in states where new governors could restrict building, though it expects no effect until 2028 because most 2027 projects are committed.

Lenders are pricing the risk already. ING put about $500 million of data-center loans up for auction, including a slice of OpenAI's New Mexico Stargate site. Anthropic's amended IPO prospectus lists about $895.4 billion of commitments, "substantially all of which is related to compute and infrastructure," with risk factors noting increasingly organized opposition.

The calendar is dense: the Senate vote this week, Edinburgh on Nov. 14, Chapelcross comments Nov. 29, a Dec. 9 hearing on a proposed 6 GW SpaceX campus in Cochise County, Arizona, and Hinojosa's Texas inauguration Jan. 19. Demand forecasts keep rising; the question is whether the concrete can keep pace with the opposition.