// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Did a data centre revolt affect the US mid-term election results?
A US midterms voter poll has suggested data centres were a highly motivating issue for many Americans, leading some to argue public backlash against the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure construction boom might have helped shape the election outcome.
BBC Verify has looked at its role in the campaign and examined the potential consequences for the AI industry.
The poll for AP and a consortium of news organisations found 56% of surveyed voters said data centres were a "crucial or major" factor in their vote, while 76% said they would oppose the construction of a new data centre in their community.
The hostile sentiment was considerably stronger among those who said they voted Democrat at this election.
This follows other recent Pew Research polling, external which suggested about half of Americans think data centres are "mostly bad" for the environment, home energy costs and quality of life, a big deterioration in favourability since January.
The congressional voter poll results certainly suggest a remarkable degree of salience for a subject which likely would not have been on most Americans' radar five years ago.
However, it is some way behind several key issues people considered "crucial or major factors" in their vote, including government corruption (90%) and the cost of living (89%).
Three of the Senate seats flipped by the Democrats have significantly more data centres, external, Texas (595), Ohio (258) and Iowa (117), than the median of 55 across all 50 states.
And Texas alone has 31 ongoing data centre construction projects, the most of any state, external.
But other factors would also have been motivating voters in these states, as elsewhere.