America on Data Centers: 10k city council comments

Public comments don't always match America's true sentiment, but our nation is clearly at a fever pitch of data center opposition.

Even isolating for only meetings with any supporters, they were outnumbered 6:1.

Accusations of corruption also frequently occur, but are overwhelmingly false.

Many stated that they don't believe the proposed benefits will end up arriving.

Comments naming each company. An AI lab's bar counts the lab or its founder, and in a lighter shade, comments that name only its chatbot.

Highest net worth: Elon Musk. Lowest: Kevin O'Leary or Mustafa Suleyman.

Surprisingly, 4/5 comments don't mention AI at all.

Counties are grouped by their 2024 presidential vote; heavily means a 15-point margin or more. Heavily Republican counties raise land and community character more, heavily Democratic ones climate change and unfairness to poorer areas. The multiplier is how many times more often one side raises a concern.

Rural commenters raise community character, farmland, and property rights more often. Urban and suburban commenters raise transparency, government distrust, air pollution, and utility bills more often.

Roles are what speakers said about themselves at the meeting. Union support is spread across 43 governments.

Based on Prophecy Gov's internal data on 300,000+ local government council meetings.

Public comments don't always match America's true sentiment, but our nation is clearly at a fever pitch of data center opposition.

Even isolating for only meetings with any supporters, they were outnumbered 6:1.

Accusations of corruption also frequently occur, but are overwhelmingly false.

Many stated that they don't believe the proposed benefits will end up arriving.

Comments naming each company. An AI lab's bar counts the lab or its founder, and in a lighter shade, comments that name only its chatbot.

Highest net worth: Elon Musk. Lowest: Kevin O'Leary or Mustafa Suleyman.

Surprisingly, 4/5 comments don't mention AI at all.

Counties are grouped by their 2024 presidential vote; heavily means a 15-point margin or more. Heavily Republican counties raise land and community character more, heavily Democratic ones climate change and unfairness to poorer areas. The multiplier is how many times more often one side raises a concern.

Rural commenters raise community character, farmland, and property rights more often. Urban and suburban commenters raise transparency, government distrust, air pollution, and utility bills more often.

Roles are what speakers said about themselves at the meeting. Union support is spread across 43 governments.

Based on Prophecy Gov's internal data on 300,000+ local government council meetings.

10,202 comments are on the record. Watch a selection of them.