MEMO: Polls Show Trump Is Out of Step on Data Centers. Democrats Can Seize Leadership.

To: Interested Parties

From: Lori Lodes, Climate Power

Date: August 20, 2026

Subject: Polls Show Trump Is Out of Step on Data Centers. Democrats Can Seize Leadership.

Public opinion on data centers is cratering. New research from Global Strategy Group on behalf of Climate Power finds a remarkably rapid decline over just the past few months. Americans believe data centers are driving up their utility bills and making the grid less reliable, and they see a broader pattern of pollution and strain on the water and resources of the communities in which they get built.

The Trump administration is railroading the American people into all of it. Trump has told communities they “can’t fight” the buildout and “have to go with it.” His EPA under Lee Zeldin exempted data center power plants from Clean Air Act protections against acid rain. His DOJ and EPA intervened in federal court on behalf of the worst polluting data centers, arguing that AI’s national security implications put those facilities above the law and render community objections moot. He is pressuring hyperscalers to power the buildout with gas and coal, which will drive utility bills up further.

This puts Trump and his Republican Party wildly out of step with the American people. Democrats can drive this contrast and seize leadership built on three uniting principles that have overwhelming public support, with room to debate specifics of each. 

1. Tech companies pay their own way. Families and small businesses shouldn’t have to pay a penny more for their electricity because of data center build outs. Tech companies and developers should cover the full cost of the new generation, transmission, and grid upgrades their facilities require. 62% of voters are more likely to support a candidate that would prohibit energy costs associated with serving new data centers from being passed on to residential customers through higher electricity bills.
   • 79% support forcing data centers to build or pay for the energy infrastructure they use.
   • Notably, if data centers rely primarily on gas or even coal as Trump is pressuring companies to do, this will inevitably lead to increased utility bills due to simple supply and demand constraints. 
2. New data centers should be powered by new clean energy—not pollute our air and water. The new AI era cannot mean a new epidemic of air pollution. The data center boom will require enormous amounts of new electricity, and that demand should drive the buildout of new cleaner cheaper American power. The alternative — huge amounts of new gas and coal — locks in higher utility bills for decades and pumps more pollution into the communities where these facilities get built.
   • 62% of voters support data centers powered by new wind and solar. Only 31% support data centers powered by new gas generators or coal plants. 
   • Voters rightly believe clean energy-powered data centers will have less of a negative impact on their utility bills, by an 18 point margin. 
   • In July polling, an embrace of clean energy shifted initial opposition by 40 points.

3. Communities get a real say. Major data center deals should not be negotiated behind closed doors. Communities should know what developers are receiving, what they are promising, how much electricity and water they will use, and who will pay for the infrastructure they need. The federal government should be in the business of providing concrete guardrails for huge tech companies, not shutting down genuine community concerns on their behalf.
   • 77% of Americans are concerned that deals with data center developers and local communities are being cut without any public input. 
   • 80% support requiring data center deals to be disclosed.
   • By nine points, voters agree that data centers are run by big AI companies and billionaire CEOs who will say whatever they need to get local approval compared to these companies wanting to do right by the community (44%/35%). 
   • 80% of voters agree “large technology companies have too much power over local communities when negotiating whether and how data centers are built” according to Morning Consult.

Some leading Democrats in the states, notably Governor Shapiro in Pennsylvania, have begun implementing policies in line with these principles. Republicans are seeing this in their own polling. Under pressure for refusing to state his position, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and other GOP candidates are trying to flip flop and make data center accountability central to their own campaigns. They will not be able to deliver. Trump owns the party’s position, and Trump is on the opposite side on every one of these principles.

Voters are desperate for leadership on this issue, and Democrats can seize the mantle. Democrats can also continue to have good faith conversations on the right solution — whether that means real, enforced guardrails or a temporary moratorium — but they can be unified on the problem and whose side they are on. Trump has picked his side. Democrats need to pick theirs.