Led by socialist Democrats and foreign billionaires, the anti-data center movement has gained significant momentum. A new Gallup poll has found that seven in every 10 Americans now oppose new data center construction near their homes. Conservative leaders must do better at pushing back against hysterical claims of activists and making the case for more energy, more infrastructure, and more wealth creation.
In some ways, the anti-data center movement is not new. Opportunistic politicians capitalized on fear of the unknown to win votes opposing steam power, railroads, electricity, highways, cell towers, and fracking. Fortunately, in each case, opponents of development lost, and the result was that the United States became the world’s preeminent economic and military power.
Opposition to data centers has become bipartisan but is largely driven by Democrats. Although 71% of all Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities, that is 75% of Democrats and a somewhat lower 63% of Republicans. Socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) lead the fight against data centers at the federal level, sponsoring the AI Data Center Moratorium Act, which would temporarily ban all data center construction. Their efforts are supported by a network of Leftist activist organizations such as Indivisible, the Sierra Club, and Americans for Financial Reform, which are funded by foreign billionaires including George Soros and Hansjoerg Wyss.
