90% of Public Comments Against Data Centers, New Database Shows

By Sophie Lindqvist

More than 90% of 10,202 public comments on data center projects were negative, according to a new database tracking local government meetings across 48 U.S. states. Only 7% of speakers said anything positive. The remaining 2.5% asked questions.

The site, called American Sentiment, is operated by Prophecy Gov, an AI startup based in San Francisco. It collected comments from 417 local governments and 906 public meetings dated 2026, then organized them into a scrollable set of figures. The sample is large. The method is opaque. Public comments skew toward the aggrieved, and the site itself concedes the record may not match the country's true sentiment. Treat the numbers as a measure of who shows up, not of national opinion.

Still, the pattern is hard to dismiss. Opposition dominated almost everywhere.

How lopsided were the meetings?

A striking 73% of tracked meetings had no data center supporters present at all, the database shows. Where supporters did appear, opponents outnumbered them 6:1. The discussion, in the site's own words, has reached a "fever pitch." That language is promotional. The underlying counts are not.

The backdrop gives the numbers weight. Amazon recently canceled plans for four new facilities after public outcry. Builders face resistance that is organized, local and growing.

What do residents actually complain about?

Water use ranked first among concerns. The source cites a May report that a single AI data center project consumed 29 million gallons of water — enough that local residents noticed a drop in water pressure. Microsoft countered in June, claiming its new AI data centers use as little water annually as a restaurant. One of these claims is measured in gallons and one in public relations. Readers can weigh which.

The top three complaints:

• Water consumption
• Impact on local quality of life
• Lack of transparency around projects

Many commenters said they did not believe the promised benefits would ever materialize. Notably, AI itself barely featured. Just 21% of comments mentioned AI at all; four in five did not raise it. This is a fight about land, water and trust, not about the technology.

Who gets named?

Commenters called out Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft by name. The criticism turned personal quickly. SpaceX and xAI CEO Elon Musk was by far the most mentioned individual, followed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Palantir's Peter Thiel ranked third, ahead of Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

Is this a partisan fight?

No. Opposition is bipartisan at almost exactly the same rate in red and blue counties, the database shows. The motives differ by geography. Rural counties worried most about community character, farmland and property rights. Urban and suburban commenters raised transparency, government distrust, air pollution and utility bills. A separate report earlier this month warned U.S. data centers could erase 15 years of progress in greenhouse gas emissions.

Who supports data centers?

One group stood out. 79% of commenters identifying as union workers favored data centers. Support collapsed everywhere else: 3% of property owners and 3% of residents agreed. Even among data center workers, only 40% backed the projects. The jobs argument appears to persuade mainly those who would hold the jobs.

What does this mean for builders?

The caveats deserve emphasis. The data covers one year of comments. It says nothing about people who stayed silent. It comes from an AI startup with an interest in quantifying civic sentiment. Yet the concrete signal — 90.5% negative, 73% of meetings without a single supporter — matches what Amazon's cancellations already demonstrated in practice. If local approval remains the gating step for hyperscale expansion, the industry's capacity plans now rest on constituencies that, at least in the public record, overwhelmingly oppose them.