WASHINGTON—With the rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI), data centers are proliferating across the United States and prompting backlash from some voters.
While data center advocates have emphasized their economic value and strategic importance in the AI race with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to set global standards, many Americans who spoke with The Epoch Times voiced skepticism about their impact on energy costs, water, and other concerns driving debate ahead of the midterms on Nov. 3.
Although some surveys suggest that data centers and related topics are lower on American voters’ priority lists than some other concerns, a recent Pew Research Center poll found that most Americans now believe data centers are generally detrimental to the environment and home energy costs….