A new study from the Pew Research Center asked Americans about their feelings toward datecenters and it\u2019s not positive. Pew published the study the day after Sen. Bernie Sanders called for a moratorium on the construction of datacenters in the United States amid mounting public concern around the building\u2019s impacts on local communities.Pew surveyed 8,512 adults in January and asked them a broad range of questions about how they felt about datacenters. Most of the respondents said they\u2019d heard of datecenters and the more they\u2019d read, the less they liked them.\ud83d\udca1Is an unwanted datacenter being built in your community? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 347 762-9212 or send me an email at matthew@404media.co.Most of the Americans surveyed believe that datacenters are bad for the environment, home energy costs, and the quality of life of people living nearby and the numbers aren\u2019t close. Only four percent of people thought datacenters were good for the environment, six percent good for jobs, and six percent good for people\u2019s quality of life.Despite those negative feelings, many of the people surveyed thought that datacenters would be good for jobs in the communities where they\u2019re built and would boost local tax revenue. \u201cStill, Americans are less likely to express positive views of data centers\u2019 impact in these areas than to express negative views of their effects on the environment, energy costs and people\u2019s quality of life nearby,\u201d the research said.\u00a0Research shows that the reality of job creation by datacenters doesn\u2019t actually live up to the promises from those lobbying to build them. \u201cData centers do not bring high-paying tech jobs to local communities because they operate as infrastructure projects rather than traditional jobcreating businesses,\u201d University of Michigan researchers wrote in a 2025 brief. \u201cAlthough the construction of data centers can create many jobs, those are short lived.\u201d\u00a0The survey charts a growing anti-datacenter sentiment in America. The US is in the middle of a massive infrastructure project similar to the Manhattan Project. In a mad dash to build out AI systems, companies are constructing massive buildings and energy infrastructure across the country, often with little input from local communities and at a massive cost.The city of Ypsilanti, Michigan is fighting to stop the construction of a $1.2 billion datacenter that would be used to test nuclear weapons. In the middle of a massive winter storm that paralyzed the state in January, lawmakers in a rural South Carolina county pushed through the approval of a controversial $2.4 billion datacenter. In Oklahoma, police arrested a man who was speaking in opposition to a datacenter after he went slightly over his time during a city council meeting.Datacenters are terrible neighbors. The buildings drive up the cost of energy for people who live nearby, consume massive amounts of water, and can produce noises and fumes that hurt locals. In Mississippi, locals are concerned about the pollution and noise caused by an xAI datacenter powered by gas turbines. A proposed datacenter project near Amarillo, Texas would be powered by four massive nuclear generators and pull water from an aquifer with dwindling reserves. In an effort to quell fears about power consumption, Trump made Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI sign a pledge to keep energy costs down. But a pledge isn\u2019t a law. It\u2019s not even an executive order.Pew\u2019s research came out the day after Sanders announced he was proposing legislation to put a moratorium on the construction of new datacenters in the US. \u201cWe are at the beginning of the most profound technological revolution in world history. That\u2019s the truth,\u201d Sanders said in a video posted on social media. \u201cThis is a revolution which will bring unimaginable changes to our world. This is a revolution which will impact our economy with massive job replacement. It will threaten our democratic institutions. It will impact our emotional well-being and what it even means to even mean to be a human being.\u201dWe need a moratorium on AI data centers NOW. Here\u2019s why. pic.twitter.com\/dRfAdQ67zD\u2014 Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 11, 2026
\n\u201cCongress hasn\u2019t a clue how to respond\u2026and protect the American people. It\u2019s not only not having a clue, they\u2019re busy out raising money all day long from AI and their super PACs,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe need a moratorium on datacenters. We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"