Rainey Center Poll Finds Voters Want Limits on Data Center Growth

A new Joseph Rainey Center survey finds cost of living remains voters’ top concern, while most voters back conditions on data center construction. The poll also shows broad interest in AI use, paired with skepticism about AI-generated content and support for federal AI rules.

Why it matters: - Cost of living still dominates voter concerns, which makes data center policy a secondary issue for many households even as development accelerates. - Voters are not rejecting data centers outright. Most want development tied to local benefits, power planning, and limits that protect residents from higher electricity costs and resource strain. - The survey suggests AI policy and data center policy are becoming political issues, not just technical or economic ones.

What happened: - The Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy surveyed 1,004 registered voters online from September 10–14, 2026. - Results were weighted on age, gender, race, education, 2024 vote recall, and region. - The margin of error was ±4.9 percentage points, with larger margins for subgroups. - On September 23, 2026, the Rainey Center released findings showing inflation and living costs remain the top voter concern.

The details: - 80% of voters said inflation is critical to their daily lives. - Groceries, gas, and utilities were named among the top three issues by 57% of voters. - Jobs and the economy followed at 30%. - Healthcare costs drew 29%. - Social Security and Medicare drew 26%. - Housing drew 20%. - AI ranked among the top three issues for 12% of voters. - Data centers ranked among the top three issues for 7% of voters. - 92% of voters were aware of data centers. - 57% viewed data centers unfavorably. - 29% believed a data center is operating or proposed near them. - 71% supported requiring community benefits agreements before data center construction. - 38% named requiring data center companies to pay their own electricity costs as a top AI priority for lawmakers. - 64% preferred a conditional approach to data center development that recruits investment while requiring developers to bring their own power, hold public meetings, sign community benefit agreements, and accept curtailment before homes when necessary. - 35% preferred an approach focused on defending existing tax breaks. - 40% said a candidate’s opposition to data centers would make them more likely to vote for that candidate. - 15% said that same position would make them less likely to vote for that candidate. - In a forced-choice county-office scenario, 44% chose the candidate opposing data center development. - 20% chose the candidate supporting data center development. - Among voters who viewed data centers unfavorably, 28% cited electricity costs for residents. - Another 18% cited water use. - Only 2% cited noise or appearance. - 52% said they use AI tools at least monthly. - 42% reported using chatbots. - 41% said nothing about AI excites them. - 70% said they are annoyed when they learn content was generated by AI. - 78% supported requiring watermarking of AI-generated content. - 82% of Democrats supported watermarking. - 77% of Republicans supported watermarking. - 75% of independents supported watermarking. - 61% preferred AI regulation mostly at the federal level. - 20% preferred state-level variation. - 48% believed a data center uses far more water than almost any other facility. - Among those voters, 45% cited local television and newspapers as the source of that belief. - 32% cited national newspapers. - 27% cited cable television. - The full report is available at the Rainey Center's LinkedIn page.

Between the lines: - The results show a political opening for candidates who can connect data center rules to household costs, local impacts, and power reliability. - Support for community benefits agreements and developer-paid electricity suggests voters are more comfortable with conditional growth than with a blanket pro-development message. - Strong support for watermarking and federal AI rules points to a public that is using AI more often but still wants clearer guardrails.

What's next: - The findings could shape how lawmakers frame both AI and data center legislation heading into future debates. - Local candidates may use opposition to data centers as a campaign issue in counties facing proposed projects. - The data center policy fight is likely to continue centering on electricity costs, water use, and community protections.

The bottom line: - Voters are not anti-growth across the board, but they want data center expansion to come with local safeguards and clear cost protections.