Gallup’s first poll on local data center construction found 71% of Americans oppose AI data centers in their area, with opposition centered on water, energy, pollution, and quality-of-life concerns.
ConstructConnect’s May 2026 Data Center Report show $46.5 billion in starts through March and a $63.2 billion late-stage pipeline for the rest of 2026.
Recent developments in Seattle, Upstate New York, New Mexico, Ohio, and Indiana show data center project viability hurdles include grid access, permitting, incentive scrutiny, water strategy, and whether developers can point to visible local benefits.
Gallup found 71% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their local area, including 48% who are strongly opposed, while only about one-quarter favor them. The polling firm said the results came from a March 2 to 18 survey of 1,000 U.S. adults and marked the first time it has asked aboutdata center construction in respondents’ local areas.
The results point to a mood colliding with a market that is still moving at exceptional scale.
ConstructConnect’s May 2026 Data Center Report said March starts reached $9.5 billion, pushing 2026 year-to-date starts to $46.5 billion, while late-stage projects expected to start between April and December totaled another $63.2 billion.
The current pace remains far above last year. The report said the comparable 2025 year-to-date total was just $7.3 billion, and the 12-month moving average puts 2026 spending on pace for roughly $121 billion if current trends hold.
First-quarter activity was concentrated from Illinois through Ohio, while Alabama through Virginia added another major block of starts. Looking ahead, ConstructConnect economists Michael Guckes and Devin Bell identified about $28 billion in late-stage projects across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas and another $22 billion along the Eastern Seaboard.
Gallup found opposition to local data center construction ran higher than opposition to local nuclear plants, 71% to 53%. It also found 46% of respondents said they worry a great deal about the environmental impact of AI data centers, while another 24% worry a fair amount.
Among opponents, half cited excessive resource use, including 18% who specifically mentioned water and 18% who mentioned energy. Sixteen percent cited pollution, and about one in five pointed to traffic, growth, land-use conflicts, or other quality-of-life concerns. A similar share cited negative economic effects such as higher utility bills, cost-of-living pressure, or taxpayer support.
Supporters leaned on economics. Gallup said two-thirds of supporters cited economic benefits, including 55% who specifically mentioned jobs.
Year-to-date through March 2026, data center construction spending has been concentrated in along the traditional “rust belt” states from Illinois through Ohio. Collectively these three states have seen more than $22 billion of new starts in the first quarter of the year. Following behind is the southern-half of the Eastern Seaboard. Image and Data: ConstructConnect May 2026 Data Center Report: The Growth Story Continues
In Seattle, five proposed facilities initially sought 369 megawatts from Seattle City Light, roughly one-third of the city’s average daily electricity use. Two developers later withdrew, but Equinix and Prologis are still pursuing three projects totaling 249 megawatts as city leaders weigh a one-year moratorium, and elected officials received more than 54,000 messages from residents.
In Upstate New York, the pressure point is grid access and who pays for it. ConstructConnect recently reported more than 30 data center-related grid requests in the region, including a $19.5 billion, 500-megawatt Genesee County proposal, while New York officials said the NYISO interconnection queue included 48 projects representing more than 11 gigawatts of new large load as of January.
That Genesee County proposal also carries a reported $1.4 billion sales-tax exemption package, keeping the politics of public incentives front and center.
In New Mexico, Oracle dropped the gas-turbine-and-diesel plan for Project Jupiter and shifted to a Bloom Energy fuel-cell microgrid with up to 2.45 gigawatts of capacity. Oracle said the redesign would cut NOx emissions about 92%, use a negligible amount of water, and avoid impacts on local electricity rates or grid stability after regulatory setbacks complicated the original gas-supply path.
In Indiana, Meta and Turner Construction have started work on a $10 billion, one-gigawatt campus in Lebanon spanning 4 million square feet across 1,500 acres. Meta said the project is expected to support more than 4,000 construction jobs at peak, about 300 permanent operations roles, closed-loop liquid cooling expected to use zero water for much of the year, and more than $120 million in water and other public infrastructure improvements.
Ohio is showing a related kind of pushback, centered less on one project than on the broader economics of the data center boom. A Scioto Analysis survey of economists found broad skepticism about tax incentives for data centers. Ten of 14 economists disagreed that those incentives are an efficient use of public funds to stimulate job growth in Ohio, while one agreed and three were uncertain.
The Scioto survey also found 57% of economists disagreed that the economic benefits of new data centers outweigh the environmental and energy-market externality costs tied to their construction, even as petitioners began collecting signatures for a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban new data centers statewide.
For a state that already has about 200 data centers, the fifth largest total in the country according to Scioto, the Ohio debate shows how skepticism is moving beyond neighborhood opposition and into a broader number of project viability hurdles, including incentives, land, energy prices, and whether the jobs case is strong enough to justify the tradeoffs.
For contractors, suppliers, and others in construction, the takeaway is that data center demand remains strong, but Gallup’s survey and recent developments show local opposition is now a real project variable.
Project viability for data centers has depended on capital, labor, and power coming through for developers. Now, at least in some areas, project viability hinges on whether developers can answer community concerns about water, energy, pollution, utility costs, and visible local benefits.
Stay connected with ConstructConnect News for construction industry news and construction market analysis to stay ahead of what’s building next.
At ConstructConnect, our software solutions provide the information that construction professionals need to start every project on a solid foundation. For more than 100 years, our keen insights and market intelligence have empowered commercial firms, building product manufacturers, trade contractors, and architects to make data-driven decisions, streamline preconstruction workflows, and maximize their productivity. Our newest offerings—including our comprehensive, AI-assisted software—help our clients find, bid on, and win more projects.
ConstructConnect operates as a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000.
For more information, visit constructconnect.com