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November 1, 2026 / Caldwell Research

Two-thirds of likely voters oppose a data center in their community

66% oppose local construction; 27% favor it in a national survey.

How much do you favor or oppose the construction of a data center in your community:
ResponseShare
Strongly favor/Favor27%
Oppose/Strongly oppose66%
Vol: Unsure2%
Vol: No response5%

United States likely voters; Marist turnout-probability weighting of registered voters · Fieldwork 2026-10-19–2026-10-20. Bars use a 0–100% scale. Less-than results retain the source threshold and have no exact-length bar.

What the result tells us

The local-construction question shows substantially more opposition than support. A separate question about the national impact of new data centers records 59% negative and 33% positive. The questions measure different judgments and should not be combined into one score.

National impact is a different question

Tech companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI are building large data centers across the country. Overall, do you believe the construction of new data centers in the United States will mostly have:
ResponseShare
A positive impact on the country33%
A negative impact on the country59%
Vol: Unsure2%
Vol: No response5%

United States likely voters; Marist turnout-probability weighting of registered voters · Fieldwork 2026-10-19–2026-10-20. Bars use a 0–100% scale. Less-than results retain the source threshold and have no exact-length bar.

What this does not measure

This national likely-voter sample cannot establish what residents think about a particular proposed site. It also does not identify why people oppose construction; claims about electricity bills, water use or jobs would require separate evidence.

Survey details and sources

NPR/PBS News/Marist interviewed 1,289 registered voters 2026-10-19 through 2026-10-20, using live telephone, text and online methods. The charts use likely-voter weighting; a separate likely-voter question sample is not reported. The published margin of error for likely-voter shares is ±3.8 percentage points. Released 2026-10-27.

Source: Marist Poll. Caldwell Research analysis and presentation. Rounded percentages and less-than bounds are retained.

Original release · Questionnaire and methodology · Survey record

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