Americans are increasingly more concerned about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence, including data centers, according to a new poll.
Findings from an AP-NORC poll released Sept. 16 show 53% of surveyed Americans are extremely or very concerned about the environmental impacts of AI, up from 41% who said the same in 2025.
On a different question, 47% of respondents think AI will do more to hurt than help the environment, compared to 33% in 2025.
At a partisan level, 57% of Democrat and 50% of Republican respondents agreed that AI will do more to hurt than help society as a whole in the next ten years.
The new survey comes weeks ahead of the midterm elections, which has been marked by voters’ concerns about data centers, or the physical infrastructure of the internet.
AP-NORC’s poll was conducted from July 6-24 among 3,424 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
How do Democrats, Republicans feel about data centers?
About eight in ten of those surveyed said they were at least somewhat concerned about how data centers will impact electricity prices, power outages or water supply in the communities where they are being built.
While more Democrats expressed concern about such environmental impacts of data centers, a large number of Republicans shared the concerns. For example, 67% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans said they are worried about data centers impacting water supply.
A drone view shows construction underway on Microsoft’s ATL11 data center in Union City, Georgia, Sept. 1, 2026.
On the flip side, adults showed mixed opinions about the benefits, with about 55% of respondents – including 60% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats – saying they felt data centers will be at least somewhat beneficial for technological advancement.
Democrats are more likely to believe climate change is occurring, poll shows
The poll also asked Americans about their opinions on climate change. Seventy-four percent of respondents said they believe climate change is happening, while 54% of them said it is caused entirely or mostly by human activity.
As with past research, the results showed a partisan divide towards climate change. While 92% of Democrat respondents said they believe climate change is occurring, just 55% of Republicans said the same.
Ninety-four percent of Americans said they have experienced extreme weather in their community in the past year, and about 8 in 10 or more believe climate change was a contributing factor to the extreme weather they experienced.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Poll shows how Democrats, Republicans feel about data centers
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