Introducing How We Got Here -- NLW's new podcast

Back in June of 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro made an announcement that had become an increasingly common type of announcement at that time.

Excitedly, he shared that Amazon planned to invest $20 billion into his state, representing the largest capital infrastructure in Pennsylvania Commonwealth history.

That $20 billion, in fact, was, of course, to build new state-of-the-art data center campuses across the state.

This was, Shapiro made clear, a thing to be excited about.

Governor Shapiro said it would create thousands of good-paying, stable jobs, generate new revenue for Pennsylvania's local communities, and, quote, ensure that the future of AI runs right through Pennsylvania.

Fast forward just 14 months later, and what Governor Shapiro had to say about data centers had changed quite a bit.

On August 18th of 2026, he posted, I just signed an executive order implementing the strictest standards in the nation for AI data centers because I will not allow Pennsylvanians to be bullied by greedy developers and bulldozed by the lawyers working for these big tech companies.

I'm putting these developers on notice and letting them know that we will not let them bully Pennsylvanians, disregard our constitutional right to clean air and pure water, and drive up our utility bills.

So what happened to get this sort of head-spinning shift in just a little more than a year? Well, what happened is that data centers, which were never particularly popular, but also weren't really on most people's radars, went from benign disinterest to hot-button oppositional political topic du jour.

Right around the same time that Shapiro was signing that first deal, back in August of 25, a pollster asked American voters whether they'd support a data center being built near their home.

It was basically a tie.

In fact, the in-favors slightly nudged out the opposed 43 to 42 percent.

By February of 2026, things had shifted, with 51 percent opposed.

By May of this year, it was up to 70 percent opposed.

And by August, a full three quarters, 75 percent of Americans who were polled, were opposed to local data center development, with more than 60 percent strongly opposed, wrote journalist Robinson Mayer.

Americans have swung a remarkable 33 points against data centers.

It's a faster and deeper shift in American public opinion than I would have once thought possible on any issue.

Over the past few months, as the midterms creep closer, broad bipartisan and growing discontent with data centers has made it an issue on both sides of the aisle.

In fact, in at least one key senatorial race in Ohio, the Senate GOP's campaign arm, warned in a memo that the data center issue was likely to lose them the election.

The memo was sent out not just to campaign staffers in Ohio, but to all of the key tech companies and hyperscalers as well.

And even as President Trump has tried to push back, arguing that data centers are good for communities, that AI, or as he now calls it, SI, superintelligence, is essential and vital to American national success, his message has not resonated even with his base.

An Economist and YouGov poll from August of this year found that while 35% of 2024 Trump voters supported a data center near them, 47% opposed them.

Part of this is, of course, about AI itself.

What's fascinating, though, is that when you dig into the numbers, it's very clear that this is not the AI industry's problem alone.

In fact, what becomes clear is that generative AI came into public consciousness with a handicap handed down from the perceptions of previous technology platforms, movements, and leaders that had nothing to do with AI.