Trump Warns Communities Opposing AI Data Centers Risk Being "Backwards and Poor"

President Donald Trump on Monday defended the construction of artificial intelligence data centers across the United States, warning that communities resisting such projects would face economic stagnation — remarks that come as Republicans grow increasingly anxious about voter backlash ahead of November's midterm elections.

"The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign."

Trump also framed opposition to data centers in geopolitical terms, adding: "China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can't believe it is happening!"

The post arrived nearly a week after the National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated an internal memo warning that negative voter sentiment toward data centers had the potential to reshape competitive races well beyond a single state. "If voters' perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio," the NRSC wrote in the Aug. 28 memo.

The committee's private polling shows Republican Sen. Jon Husted locked in a "dead heat" with Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown in Ohio's special election to fill the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. Brown, according to the NRSC, has made opposition to data centers the centerpiece of his campaign. "More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted's neck," the memo said.

The breadth of public opposition to data centers extends well beyond Ohio. A Gallup survey conducted in March found that seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local communities, with nearly half — 48 percent — describing themselves as strongly opposed.

Wolfe Research, in a report issued on Aug. 28, described the pace of the backlash as unlike anything analysts had previously observed. The firm noted it had seen "60-point drops in net support for local data center construction across party lines over the past 12 months," and said the question of how the backlash would play out politically had come up "in nearly every meeting with investors over the past month or so."

AI data centers house the computing infrastructure used to train and run artificial intelligence systems developed by companies including OpenAI and Anthropic. Critics in affected communities have raised concerns about rising electricity costs, increased power demand, heavy water consumption, and other local environmental and infrastructure impacts.

Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and a 53-47 majority in the Senate, making November's elections a critical inflection point for the party's legislative agenda.

The NRSC's Aug. 18 memo left little ambiguity about the stakes: "If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one."

With the election roughly ten weeks away, how candidates in data-center-heavy states navigate the issue — and whether Trump's intervention shifts public sentiment — will likely determine the extent to which AI infrastructure remains a political liability for the party in power.

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