Environmental Polling Roundup – August 21, 2026
Headlines
Heatmap – Support for local data centers has declined among every segment of the electorate since May [Article]
UPenn – Opposition to data centers is growing even as underlying attitudes about AI are steady [Website, Topline]
Walton Family Foundation + Gallup – Around four in ten Americans say that extreme weather caused damage in their community over the past year [Walton Family Foundation Release, Gallup Article, Full Report]
Data for Progress – Voters support a range of climate-friendly local infrastructure policies, including energy efficiency standards and investments in mass transit [Website, Crosstabs]
Key Takeaways
Opposition to data centers is growing even stronger. Two new polls with direct trend lines from earlier surveys confirm that public opposition to local data centers has increased in recent months. These polls, from Heatmap and the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, also find that opposition is hardening as growing proportions now say that they would strongly oppose a local data center project.
These surveys underline the continued backlash against data centers that is emerging from all corners of the electorate. The Heatmap data shows that voters of every political affiliation oppose local AI data centers by wide and expanding margins, with Republicans opposed to them by a 43-point margin, independents opposed to them by a 65-point margin, and Democrats opposed to them by a 75-point margin.
This unusual level of cross-partisan agreement helps explain why politicians from both parties, after previously embracing the data center buildout, are now calling for increased regulations on them.
Energy efficiency remains a popular goal across the political spectrum. Like data centers, energy efficiency presents a rare opportunity for bipartisan consensus amid the otherwise contentious politics of climate and energy.
Data for Progress finds that large majorities of voters across party lines support local government policies to promote energy efficiency, including updating public buildings with new energy-efficient technologies, setting energy-efficiency requirements for new buildings, and offering financial incentives for energy-efficient homes and businesses.
Our previous research has shown that voters understand the connection between energy efficiency and cost savings, and widely believe claims that increased energy efficiency in homes can save ratepayers hundreds of dollars a year.
Full Roundup
Heatmap – Support for local data centers has declined among every segment of the electorate since May [Article]
Voter opposition to data centers continues to grow and intensify. Heatmap finds that 75% of voters nationwide now say that they oppose data centers (described in the survey as “facilities that house the servers that power the internet, apps, and artificial intelligence”) being built near where they live. This represents a five-point increase in opposition since May (70%), a 24-point increase in opposition since February (51%), and a 33-point increase in opposition since August of last year (42%).
Opposition is also more intense than ever before, with 61% of voters saying that they would “strongly” oppose a local data center (up from 54% in May and 37% in February).
Data centers are falling deeper underwater among every segment of the electorate. Voters of every political affiliation oppose data centers by wide margins, with Republicans now opposed to them by a net margin of 43 points (up from a 33-point margin of opposition in May), independents opposed to them by 65 points (up from a 56-point margin in May), and Democrats opposed to them by 75 points (up from a 64-point margin in May).
UPenn – Opposition to data centers is growing even as underlying attitudes about AI are steady [Website, Topline]
Americans remain deeply pessimistic about the impacts of AI. UPenn finds that Americans are 21 points more likely to believe that the impacts of AI will be negative for the U.S. than positive over the next 10 years (18% positive / 39% negative). Overall sentiment about the impact of the technology has changed only slightly since UPenn previously asked this question in March (17% positive / 42% negative).
The survey also asked Americans whether they thought that AI would do more good than harm over the next ten years across 13 specific areas. For 12 of the 13 areas (all except for “medical research and discoveries”), Americans predict that AI will have more of a negative than positive impact.
Americans expect a net negative impact from AI on key dimensions including the economy (-19 points), household utility costs (-24), and environmental protection and sustainability (-33). The survey finds that Americans are particularly pessimistic about the impacts of AI on employment and jobs (-46).
In terms of government policy, around two-thirds of Americans (68%) believe that the government has done too little to regulate AI. This reflects no real change since UPenn asked the same question in March (65%).
Opposition to data centers is shifting more than Americans’ underlying attitudes about AI. The survey finds that Americans oppose data centers in their areas by a 47-point margin (14% support / 61% oppose), with opposition 12 points higher now than it was in UPenn’s March survey (21% support / 49% oppose).
The margin of opposition isn’t quite as drastic here as in Heatmap’s new poll, though it’s worth noting that the UPenn survey allowed respondents to say that they would neither support nor oppose a local data center (an option chosen by 25% of respondents).
And like Heatmap, UPenn finds that opposition to data centers is not only growing but intensifying. More than two in five Americans (44%) in UPenn’s survey say that they would “strongly” oppose a local data center, which represents an increase of 13 points since March (31%).
Walton Family Foundation + Gallup – Around four in ten Americans say that extreme weather caused damage in their community over the past year [Walton Family Foundation Release, Gallup Article, Full Report]
Around four in ten Americans say that extreme weather caused damage in their community over the past year. The Walton Family Foundation and Gallup find that 38% of Americans report that their town or city has experienced damage from extreme weather in the past 12 months.
While this question specifically asked about damage from extreme weather, general experience with extreme weather is far more common. The Walton Family Foundation and Gallup also recently found that the majority of Americans (57%) said that their area had been impacted by at least one extreme weather event in the past year. A recent AP-NORC poll further found that nine in ten Americans said that they had been impacted by extreme heat in the past year.
Self-reported extreme weather damage is higher in the South and relatively lower in the West. When broken down by Census division, reported damage from extreme weather is particularly high in the East South Central division composed of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee (58%) and in the West South Central division composed of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas (47%).
Residents of the Mountain division (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) are the least likely to say that their community has seen damage from extreme weather (26%). However, this region is very familiar with other types of climate impacts as the majority of Mountain division residents (55%) say that they have experienced drought conditions in the past year.
Americans who have been impacted by extreme weather are anxious about further damage in the future. Among the 38% who say that their community has been damaged by extreme weather in the past year, the majority (57%) are at least “somewhat” worried that extreme weather will further negatively impact their area in the next 12 months.
Data for Progress – Voters support a range of climate-friendly local infrastructure policies, including energy efficiency standards and investments in mass transit [Website, Crosstabs]
Voters want their communities to be environmentally sustainable, and don’t believe that investments in climate resilience should wait. Nearly three-quarters of voters (73%) say that it’s at least “somewhat” important to them that their community implements environmental sustainability policies. This includes majorities across party lines, including 79% of Democrats, 77% of independents, and 64% of Republicans.
And when presented with the following head-to-head arguments about when cities should invest in climate mitigation projects, voters side more with an argument for urgency by a 17 point margin (54%-37%)–even if it means raising taxes:
- Cities should invest now in projects that reduce damage from flooding and extreme heat, even if it requires raising taxes today – 54% agree more with this argument
- Cities should avoid raising taxes, even if it means delaying projects that could prepare for future costly climate impacts – 37% agree more with this argument
Voters in urban areas side more with the argument for cities investing now in climate resilience by a 12-point margin (52%-40%).
Policies to promote energy efficiency, transit, and walkability are popular across the political spectrum. Data for Progress finds broad, bipartisan support for each of the following policy proposals for local governments:
- Expanding sidewalk coverage and creating more pedestrian-friendly streets – 80% support, including 81% of Republicans
- Updating public buildings with new energy-efficient technologies – 79% support, including 76% of Republicans
- Setting energy-efficiency requirements for new buildings – 78% support, including 73% of Republicans
- Offering financial incentives for energy-efficient homes and businesses – 77% support, including 74% of Republicans
- Expanding bus services and providing discounted fares – 77% support, including 72% of Republicans
- Updating zoning rules to encourage walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods – 75% support, including 72% of Republicans
- Investing in safer bike lanes and expanded cycling infrastructure – 74% support, including 72% of Republicans
Voters are split on whether cities’ transportation policies should prioritize driving or other forms of transit. Voters are about equally divided on whether cities should prioritize investing in public transportation and expanding sidewalks and bike lanes to reduce car dependence (47%) or prioritize investing in road expansion and traffic management tools to accommodate growing vehicle use (44%).
The issue is somewhat politically polarized, with Democrats preferring a focus on alternative forms of transit by 17 points and Republicans preferring a car-centric approach by 14 points.
In urban areas, which would be more impacted by cities’ policy choices, voters prefer the transit-oriented approach (51%) by 10 points over the car-centric approach (41%).
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