Data Centers

Data Center Bans Won't Stop AI. They'll Barely Slow It Down.

Even still, data center moratoriums are not an optimal policy for the pro-AI camp.

Satya Thallam | 10.30.2026 10:16 AM

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With a contentious midterm election less than a week away, one cause has unified voters and candidates across the political spectrum: slowing down AI. 

A friend of mine who directs tens of millions of dollars in midterm election spending says he's never seen voter salience of an issue—AI, broadly—increase so quickly. In July, Gallup found that 39 percent of Americans thought AI does more harm than good, up from 31 percent in 2025. Only 9 percent of Americans, meanwhile, thought the technology did more good than harm (down from 12 percent last year). 

Public sentiment has since soured even more. An October ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 57 percent of Americans think AI is bad for society, while a staggering 66 percent said they opposed new data center construction in the United States.

Politicians on the left and right have seized on this political sentiment and offered their........

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