Poll Finds Rising American Concern Over AI's Environmental Toll

Americans are growing more anxious about the environmental footprint of artificial intelligence, according to a new survey that also reveals broad wariness about the rapid expansion of data centers powering the technology.

The poll, conducted by the Varta Wire-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, found that 53% of US adults are "extremely" or "very" concerned about AI's environmental impacts — a sharp rise from 41% a year earlier.

Democrats account for much of that increase. Roughly two-thirds now express high concern, up from about half in 2025. By comparison, about half of independents and around four in ten Republicans report similar levels of worry.

Overall, Americans are more concerned about AI's environmental impact than about other industries with substantial footprints. Only about three in ten are highly concerned about meat production or air travel.

The survey also captured unease about data centers, the vast facilities that power AI and cloud computing. About six in ten Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, a view shared by most Democrats and Republicans.

A majority are "extremely" or "very" concerned about the impact of these centers on electricity prices and water supply in their communities. Data centers could account for 11.8% of US electricity consumption by 2030, according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report.

"We're talking about building electric infrastructure on a scale of entire cities, or in some cases, entire states just to serve one data center," said Erik Nordman, director of Michigan State University's Institute of Public Utilities.

Water use is another flashpoint. Data centers rely on water to cool AI chips and computers — a demand that energy systems engineer Fengqi You of Cornell University described as "nationally modest but potentially locally decisive." A single large campus can strain a smaller municipality, he noted.

About two-thirds of US adults support requiring data centers to use clean energy sources such as wind or solar. That includes roughly eight in ten Democrats and 56% of Republicans.

There are thousands of data centers in the US, with more planned. Virginia and Texas have the most operating facilities, followed by California, Ohio and New York. While 87% of existing centers are in urban areas, most new ones are planned for rural locations, according to an earlier Pew Research Center analysis.

"I think that decisions are being made for the company, not for the community that they're being built in," said Nancy Antunes, a 60-year-old retired Democrat from Waltham, Massachusetts.

A recent United Nations University report predicted that data centers' environmental footprint, already comparable to some of the world's largest countries, will grow rapidly as AI adoption widens.

"We're undertaking a massive experiment in real time, and I don't think there'll be any putting the milk back in the bottle," said Michael Greenstone, who directs the University of Chicago institute that collaborated on the survey. "Change is scary, and I think some of that is being reflected here."

Views on the benefits of data centers are mixed. About a quarter of US adults see them as "extremely" or "very" beneficial for technological advancement, and about two in ten say the same about job creation. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to perceive benefits, though about three in ten Republicans still see little or no benefit for infrastructure and jobs.

Eriech Tapia, a 30-year-old Republican from Arlington, Virginia, who works in higher education advocacy, said he noticed a proliferation of data centers on a recent drive through northern Virginia. He acknowledged their value in keeping the US competitive but worried about electricity consumption.

"I see a huge increase in the number of temporary construction workers that are coming to areas, which is vitally important to the U.S. economy," Tapia said.

For some, the issue still feels remote. Mary Fisher, 68, a retired Republican in Jacksonville, Florida, said no data centers had appeared in her neighborhood. "You know, it hasn't come across my desk as something I should be concerned about," she said.

Gedeon Kebede, a 21-year-old computer science student and Democrat from Cincinnati, Ohio, said he feels pressure to use AI despite his concerns. "I think a lot of people just feel that it's very much a bubble," he said. "Ultimately, when it pops, it's going to be very detrimental to everyone, whether you bought into the AI hype or not."

The poll of 3,424 adults was conducted July 6–24, 2026, using a combined sample from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel and opt-in online panels. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.