Prophecy Gov
Americans hate data centers in their backyard.
Every dot is one speaker at one meeting: 10,650 comments about data centers, from 936 local-government meetings in 48 states, January to August 2026. Red opposed data-center development, green supported it, blue only asked questions, gray took no clear position.
73% of meetings had 0 data center supporters.
On the left, comments from the 679 meetings where nobody supported. On the right, the 257 meetings where at least one person did — and even there, green is scarce.
Americans across the aisle oppose data centers equally.
Only the comments that took a side, split by how each meeting's county voted for president in 2024. Democratic counties: 91.9% against, 8.1% for. Republican counties: 92.5% and 7.5%. On a full 0 to 100 scale the two parties land on the same spot.
Unions are the only group that net-support data centers.
Share of each group's comments opposing or supporting, with the group's comment count beside its name. Roles are what speakers state on the record. One caveat: 20 of the data-center workers' 38 supportive comments are from two hearings, Cheyenne and Lowell, where the operator's own workforce turned out.
Data-center workers don't want them in their backyard.
One dot per comment from a self-identified data-center worker: 96 comments from 88 people across 66 meetings in 29 states. Outside the two hearings where the operator’s own employees showed up, industry workers run 3 to one against.
Water use and supply was the top issue brought up.
Share of all 10,650 comments raising each concern, top 20 of 43 coded. One comment can raise several; 94% raise at least one.
Top demands: reject, slow down, and do studies.
Share of all comments making each request, top 15. One comment can make several; 89% make at least one.
15% of all comments discussed potential benefits.
Only 15% of comments — 1,568 of 10,650 — mention any benefit, and just 698 of those come from supporters; the rest name a benefit without supporting, usually to dispute it. Top 12 benefits, split by the stance of the commenter.
But feelings don't care about your facts.
The rebuttal to the last chart: 3,598 comments argue the claimed benefits won't show up — 2.3× more than the 1,568 that mention any benefit at all. Counts of comments making each argument; one comment can make several.
Political party lean impacted what issues were brought up.
Share of comments raising each concern in strongly Democratic counties (2,031 comments, 207 meetings) and strongly Republican counties (4,245 comments, 397 meetings); strongly means the county's 2024 presidential margin was 15 points or more. The multiplier on each line is how many times more often the leading side raises it. Republican counties talk about land and character, Democratic counties about climate and justice.
What rural vs urban counties bring up
Share of comments raising each concern in urban counties (5,973 comments, 530 meetings) and rural counties (1,693 comments, 152 meetings).
Transparency and trust are almost always brought up. 1 in 4 meetings have NDAs as a concern.
Share of the 936 meetings where each trust or secrecy theme came up at least once. Corruption accusations and donor-influence claims are coded only from explicit on-record statements.
Californians and Texans find common ground.
California opposes at 88%, Texas at 87%. The gray field is the other 46 states.
What Californians and Texans bring up
The concerns with the biggest gap between the two states, as a share of each state's comments: California's from 62 meetings in 29 governments, Texas's from 80 meetings in 27. Texas argues about land, farmland, and the deal; California argues about health, justice, and utility bills. The biggest fights: San Marcos and Hood County in Texas, Coachella in California.
Permanent bans are brought up more often in CA vs TX.
Share of each state's comments demanding each outcome. 26% of California comments demand a permanent ban, and that is not one city: 13 of 29 California governments heard ban demands, and the rate holds at 23% with Coachella excluded. 6% of Texas comments demand a ban; Texans instead demand the specific proposal be rejected.
For every comment demanding a ban, 2.3 ask for a pause.
Comments demanding each outcome, out of all 10,650. 2,170 ask for a temporary moratorium and 957 for a permanent ban; 327 ask for both.
It's about Big Tech, not the AI labs, to most Americans.
Company mentions split by whether the company’s own project or facility was the local issue, verified by reading the clustered mentions. Model names count toward their maker: ChatGPT to OpenAI, Claude to Anthropic, Gemini to Google, Copilot to Microsoft, Grok to xAI, including transcript spellings like Chad GPT and Anthropix. Facebook as a website and Google as a verb are excluded.
It's less about AI, and more about water.
Only 20% of comments mention AI at all, across 575 of the 936 meetings, while every leading concern is a local one. When AI does come up, the comment opposes at 93% versus 86% otherwise.
Data centers come up 21.8x more than in early 2022.
How much of what's said in America's council chambers is about data centers: spoken passages mentioning one, per transcribed meeting, across every meeting in Prophecy's own ingestion — all topics, 146,492 meetings. Nothing here was collected because of data centers, so the growth is the country's, not the collection's. In early 2022 a data center was a consent-calendar item; Q3 '26 covers July only.
Half the fights are over a specific project
The dots regroup by what the agenda item was. Specific proposals and citywide rules carry almost everything.
Americans hate data centers in their backyard.
Every dot is one speaker at one meeting: 10,650 comments about data centers, from 936 local-government meetings in 48 states, January to August 2026. Red opposed data-center development, green supported it, blue only asked questions, gray took no clear position.
73% of meetings had 0 data center supporters.
On the left, comments from the 679 meetings where nobody supported. On the right, the 257 meetings where at least one person did — and even there, green is scarce.
Americans across the aisle oppose data centers equally.
Only the comments that took a side, split by how each meeting's county voted for president in 2024. Democratic counties: 91.9% against, 8.1% for. Republican counties: 92.5% and 7.5%. On a full 0 to 100 scale the two parties land on the same spot.
Unions are the only group that net-support data centers.
Share of each group's comments opposing or supporting, with the group's comment count beside its name. Roles are what speakers state on the record. One caveat: 20 of the data-center workers' 38 supportive comments are from two hearings, Cheyenne and Lowell, where the operator's own workforce turned out.
Data-center workers don't want them in their backyard.
One dot per comment from a self-identified data-center worker: 96 comments from 88 people across 66 meetings in 29 states. Outside the two hearings where the operator’s own employees showed up, industry workers run 3 to one against.
Water use and supply was the top issue brought up.
Share of all 10,650 comments raising each concern, top 20 of 43 coded. One comment can raise several; 94% raise at least one.
Top demands: reject, slow down, and do studies.
Share of all comments making each request, top 15. One comment can make several; 89% make at least one.
15% of all comments discussed potential benefits.
Only 15% of comments — 1,568 of 10,650 — mention any benefit, and just 698 of those come from supporters; the rest name a benefit without supporting, usually to dispute it. Top 12 benefits, split by the stance of the commenter.
But feelings don't care about your facts.
The rebuttal to the last chart: 3,598 comments argue the claimed benefits won't show up — 2.3× more than the 1,568 that mention any benefit at all. Counts of comments making each argument; one comment can make several.
Political party lean impacted what issues were brought up.
Share of comments raising each concern in strongly Democratic counties (2,031 comments, 207 meetings) and strongly Republican counties (4,245 comments, 397 meetings); strongly means the county's 2024 presidential margin was 15 points or more. The multiplier on each line is how many times more often the leading side raises it. Republican counties talk about land and character, Democratic counties about climate and justice.
What rural vs urban counties bring up
Share of comments raising each concern in urban counties (5,973 comments, 530 meetings) and rural counties (1,693 comments, 152 meetings).
Transparency and trust are almost always brought up. 1 in 4 meetings have NDAs as a concern.
Share of the 936 meetings where each trust or secrecy theme came up at least once. Corruption accusations and donor-influence claims are coded only from explicit on-record statements.
Californians and Texans find common ground.
California opposes at 88%, Texas at 87%. The gray field is the other 46 states.
What Californians and Texans bring up
The concerns with the biggest gap between the two states, as a share of each state's comments: California's from 62 meetings in 29 governments, Texas's from 80 meetings in 27. Texas argues about land, farmland, and the deal; California argues about health, justice, and utility bills. The biggest fights: San Marcos and Hood County in Texas, Coachella in California.
Permanent bans are brought up more often in CA vs TX.
Share of each state's comments demanding each outcome. 26% of California comments demand a permanent ban, and that is not one city: 13 of 29 California governments heard ban demands, and the rate holds at 23% with Coachella excluded. 6% of Texas comments demand a ban; Texans instead demand the specific proposal be rejected.
For every comment demanding a ban, 2.3 ask for a pause.
Comments demanding each outcome, out of all 10,650. 2,170 ask for a temporary moratorium and 957 for a permanent ban; 327 ask for both.
It's about Big Tech, not the AI labs, to most Americans.
Company mentions split by whether the company’s own project or facility was the local issue, verified by reading the clustered mentions. Model names count toward their maker: ChatGPT to OpenAI, Claude to Anthropic, Gemini to Google, Copilot to Microsoft, Grok to xAI, including transcript spellings like Chad GPT and Anthropix. Facebook as a website and Google as a verb are excluded.
It's less about AI, and more about water.
Only 20% of comments mention AI at all, across 575 of the 936 meetings, while every leading concern is a local one. When AI does come up, the comment opposes at 93% versus 86% otherwise.
Data centers come up 21.8x more than in early 2022.
How much of what's said in America's council chambers is about data centers: spoken passages mentioning one, per transcribed meeting, across every meeting in Prophecy's own ingestion — all topics, 146,492 meetings. Nothing here was collected because of data centers, so the growth is the country's, not the collection's. In early 2022 a data center was a consent-calendar item; Q3 '26 covers July only.
Half the fights are over a specific project
The dots regroup by what the agenda item was. Specific proposals and citywide rules carry almost everything.
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