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Opposition to local data centers rises sharply, survey finds

Phys · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 688 words · By Annenberg Public Policy Center
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What to know about Opposition to local data centers rises sharply, survey finds

The article reports on a survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center indicating a rise in American opposition to the construction of local data centers. It notes that while views on AI's general impact and the need for regulation remain stable, concerns regarding physical infrastructure, privacy, and employment persist across various demographics.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 16
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center75%
Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Opposition to local data centers rises sharply, survey finds Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor As protesters rally against data center construction in dozens of states and New York and Texas pause the issuance of permits for large data…

Why it matters

The survey, conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania, finds that about three in five U.S.

Common ground

adults (61%) oppose the construction of new data centers in their area, up 12 percentage points from an APPC survey in February and March.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

The article reports on a survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center indicating a rise in American opposition to the construction of local data centers. It notes that while views on AI's general impact and the need for regulation remain stable, concerns regarding physical infrastructure, privacy, and employment persist across various demographics.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-opposition-local-centers-sharply-survey.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 16 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 6
check_circle Corroborated 4
info Single Source 3
verified Verified By Reference 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
schedule
Claim 1: “Among those who report "never" using AI in the past month, 54% expect AI's impact on the United States to be negative. That falls to 40% among light users and 29% among those who used AI many times or almost every day”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 2: “Across 13 areas, only medical research and discoveries draw a net-positive assessment (+41 points)”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 3: “Opposition is highest among young adults under 30 (70%) and declines to 57% among those 65 and older”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found in the search results regarding the age-based breakdown of opposition (70% under 30, 57% over 65).
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Claim 4: “up 12 percentage points from an APPC survey in February and March”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm the opposition rose by 12 percentage points from a previous survey fielded in February/March.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kieran John Mullan (born 6 June 1984) is a British Conservative Party politician and medical doctor who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexhill and Battle. He was previously the MP for Crewe and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieran_Mullan
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands, with a total area o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Udon Thani (Thai: อุดรธานี, pronounced [ʔù.dɔ̄ːn tʰāː.nīː]) is a city in Isan (Northeast Thailand), the capital of Udon Thani province and the sixth largest city in Thailand. The city municipality (th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udon_Thani
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “The survey, conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania, finds that about three in five U.S. adults (61%) oppose the construction of new data centers in their area”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results explicitly state that an APPC survey found 61% (about 3 in 5) of U.S. adults oppose the construction of new data centers in their area.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) is a center for the study of public policy at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. It is based in West Philadelphia on th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annenberg_Public_Policy_Center
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) at the University of Southern California promotes interdisciplinary research in communications between the USC School of Cinematic Ar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annenberg_Center_on_Communicat…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Annenberg School for Communication is the communication school at the University of Pennsylvania. The school was established in 1958 by Wharton School alumnus Walter Annenberg as the Annenberg Sch…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annenberg_School_for_Communica…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “Two-thirds (68%) continue to say the government has done "too little" to regulate AI”
CORROBORATED
Three separate web search results explicitly confirm that 68% (two-thirds) of respondents believe the government has done 'too little' to regulate AI.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — .ai is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is administered by the government of Anguilla. It is a popular domain hack wit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ai
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — AI commonly refers to artificial intelligence, which is intelligence demonstrated by machines. Ai, ai, a.i, A.I or AI may also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and dec…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 7: “Only 14% are supportive [of new local data centers], down from 21% in the spring”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim contains unrelated astronomical and language test data from 2026, but does not mention the 14% or 21% support statistics for data centers.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 2026 July 28 A pair of snow topped volcanoes are seen in the distance.Then, Barnard's Loop appeared to connect the volcanic peaks. Also visible in the image is the Orion Nebula in the center, the star…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260728.html
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Главная > Экзамены – основные правила > Зимний тест Nihongo Noryoku Shiken (Moscow) 2026B.
https://new.7270101.ru/exams/2026b/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Data is encrypted in transit. You can request that data be deleted. See details. August 9, 2026. Work very good and fast The AI first response: Welcome to China! If you need assistance with travel arr…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unionpay.i…
verified
Claim 8: “The share saying that AI's impact on the United States over the next 10 years will be somewhat or very negative was 39%”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim contains generic Wikipedia entries for the number 39 and AI concepts, but does not contain the specific survey statistic regarding the 39% negative impact view.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The AI bubble is a concept that asserts there is a stock market bubble growing since 2025 amid the AI boom, a period of rapid increase in investment in artificial intelligence (AI) that is affecting t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_bubble
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) that uses generative models to generate text, images, videos, audio, software code or other forms of data. Thes…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_AI
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Moonshot AI (Moonshot; Chinese: 月之暗面; pinyin: Yuè Zhī Ànmiàn; lit. 'Dark Side of the Moon') is an artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Beijing, China. It is one of China's six "AI Tigers". It…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshot_AI
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 9: “The Annenberg Public Policy Center's Institutions of Democracy survey was conducted for APPC by SSRS, an independent research company”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 10: “The survey... was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,320 U.S. adult citizens from June 16–July 19, 2026”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the APPC is verified as an entity, the specific dates (June 16–July 19, 2026) and sample size (1,320) are not present in the provided evidence snippets.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) is a center for the study of public policy at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. [1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annenberg_Public_Policy_Center
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web search NEUTRAL — APPC is at the application layer in the OSI model, it enables communications between programs on different computers, from portables and workstations to midrange and host computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Advanced_Program-to-Progra…
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web search NEUTRAL — May 8, 2026 · A study co-authored by APPC Director Dolores Albarracín identifies three characteristics that help determine when conspiracy beliefs are most likely to shape real-world behavior.
https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/
schedule
Claim 11: “18% who expect it [AI's impact] to be positive”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 12: “The most negative areas are personal privacy and data security (-63 points), children's safety online (-50 points) and employment and jobs (-46 points)”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 13: “Majorities of Democrats (69%), Republicans (54%) and independents (53%) oppose new local data centers”
SINGLE SOURCE
While one web search result for claim 3 mentions that majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents oppose new facilities and lists the specific percentages (69%, 54%, 53%), the evidence provided specifically for claim 8 was empty. However, looking at the evidence for claim 3, the data is present in one source.
schedule
Claim 14: “The margin of error for the full sample is ±3.5 percentage points”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 15: “New York and Texas pause the issuance of permits for large data centers”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of generic news homepages and Wikipedia entries about the geography of New York and Texas, with no mention of permit pauses for data centers.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — New York most commonly refers to: New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — New York is an unincorporated community in Henderson County, Texas, United States, about 11 miles east of Athens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Texas
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Texas is a hamlet in Oswego County, New York, United States, near the southeastern corner of Lake Ontario. It is officially part of the town of Mexico.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas,_New_York
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 16: “protesters rally against data center construction in dozens of states”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results confirm that protesters held 142 protests across 42 US states against data center growth, specifically citing Reuters as a source.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Opponents of the rapid buildout of data centers held 142 protests across 42 states Saturday, the first nationwide protest against data center growth.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/07/19/data-center-protest-n…
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web search NEUTRAL — In areas where data center construction is concentrated, local opposition has increasingly become a political issue. According to Reuters, civic groups staged simultaneous protests against data center…
https://economy.ac/news/2026/08/202608289680
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Demonstrators protest the construction of the Stratos data center in Box Elder County at the Utah State Capitol on May 23, 2026. But these supposed benefits and national strategic importance are not r…
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/data-centers-know-image-…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.