Hyperscalers alone plan to spend about $650 billion on AI data centers in 2026. These data centers may prove necessary to take full advantage of AI technology, but are they popular? There has been a backlash against building data centers in several parts of the country, and a recent Politico poll shows U.S. residents support building AI data centers -- just not near their homes.

And the poll identified the pros and cons of data center builds.

In Politico’s poll of 2,093 U.S. adults:

• 50% said they support building more data centers in the U.S. compared to only 18% who are opposed. And those in strong support (16%) double the number who strongly oppose (8% ).
• However, those numbers change to 36% who support building data centers within 3 miles of home compared to 28% who oppose that construction. And those who strongly oppose (15%) outnumber those strongly in favor (12%).
• Job creation is a major reason cited for data center support. “Creates jobs in my area” was the No. 1 reason for support of data centers within 3 miles from home with 37%, followed by “stores data in the U.S.” at 27%. Of those who support data centers anywhere in the U.S., 33% said it means data will be stored in the U.S. and 32% cited job creation despite companies citing AI as the cause of layoffs.
• Electricity concerns were cited as the main drawbacks. Raising the cost of electricity was the main drawback for building in the U.S. and locally (29% for both questions), followed by increased risk of blackout (24% for both questions). Cost for taxpayers was the No. 3 concern, with 23% citing it as an issue for both national and local data centers.
• Politico also asked respondents if they favored building train stations, airports, universities, roads, shopping malls, power plants, sports arenas, and housing and low-income housing within 3 miles from home. Only airports (30% support), power plants (35%) and arenas (38%) received as little or less support as data centers.

See results of the entire poll here.