Poll: Data centers gain massive support — they don’t waste water!

Arguments about data centers are reaching a fever pitch, with so many Americans saying they don’t want these things in their town. Just look at how angry people are getting.

But one major point of contention is based on an apparent lie: that data centers consume a huge amount of water. It turns out that this is simply not the case at all, and in fact, the water they do use — which is much less than is used, for example, for farming — is easily recycled. And importantly, when people learn this fact, their views on data centers changed rapidly .

After people are told that data centers can reuse the water, they become 31 points more supportive of building them. That suggests to me that when people say they’re against data centers, they’re not saying they’re against AI or technology or anything of that nature.

What they’re concerned about is resource depletion, and they have been told — in some cases by hostile foreign actors — that data centers are going to strain the power grid and use up all the water and pollute the rivers and make a lot of noise. None of those things are true, and the people trying to convince you they are true are far-left degrowth activists who don’t want us to build anything, and would in fact like to see communist China outcompete the U.S.

Now, there is some genuine conservative opposition to the centers as well. The Federalist’s John Daniel Davidson, for instance, wrote on X : “Bringing in data centers to save a dying town is like bringing in casinos and race tracks to save a dying city.”

That’s an absurd comparison, of course. Casinos and race tracks make my money via the promotion of vice — which, by the way, I’m perfectly fine with — whereas data centers are building the infrastructure that makes modern life possible, and harming absolutely no one in the process. In fact, their existence even allows local governments to lower your property taxes, which sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

But also, if not data centers, then what is your plan to revitalize dying American towns? I keep hearing from national conservatives that they want to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and build things here, but if we can’t even build a data center because it’s too noisy, how are we possibly going to have a domestic industrial policy? We’re just going to end up doing nothing, and stagnating because of it. Which is exactly what our enemies want. It’s what the left seems to want. It should not be what conservatives want.

To be clear, there’s a significant contingent of MAGA that sees through this. According to Echelon Insights , Republicans that are “more conservative, male, and MAGA” are the most supportive of data centers within the Republican coalition. That’s not so surprising — President Trump himself remains entirely supportive of building more data centers.

When he’s right, he’s right. Data centers create jobs and prosperity, and the amount of water they use is a drop in the bucket. Tell your friends and neighbors — spread the word!

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.