Two in three Michigan residents oppose the construction of data centers in their community, new polling from the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University shows.
About half of respondents, 52%, strongly oppose data center construction. Another 18% reported being somewhat opposed.
"One of the interesting things about this data is that we actually found Michigan residents are more opposed to data centers than folks are across the U.S.," said study co-author and SU professor Doug Bessette. "So, 70% of Michigan respondents were opposed compared to 65% across the U.S."
The poll found that opposition to data centers is bipartisan but is stronger among Democrats and independents than Republicans; 76% of respondents self-identifying as Democrats at least “somewhat” oppose data center development in their communities, while 58% of self-described Republican respondents oppose the projects.
"We were really interested in why are people opposed to data centers, and I think it really comes down to the environment, the economy and what they think will happen to their home energy costs," Bessette said.
The poll shows that nearly three in four respondents thought data centers were at least somewhat bad for the environment, and more than half of respondents thought they were bad for the economy.
More than three quarters of respondents said they expect data centers to increase home energy costs.
Data centers have become a political flashpoint during this election season, and Bessette says that was present in the survey results as well.
"We did see that respondents wanted local governments to have a say in permitting data centers, and you see this coming out of a lot of the candidates that are running for office right now," he said.
But Bessette points out Michigan law prohibits exclusionary zoning, so there's only so much local governments can do to prevent the construction of data centers in their communities.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: Nearly three in four Michiganders oppose the construction of data centers in their community.
That’s the findings of a new report from Michigan State University researchers.
Doug Bessette was a part of the team who put the survey together, and he joins us now to talk about what they found. Thanks for being here.
Doug Bessette: No problem. Thank you.
Saliby: Have we had this kind of data before about how Michiganders are feeling about data centers?
Bessette: We have seen a number of national polls come out, and there's been a few polls that have come out in the state of Michigan. One of which I believe came out of Detroit a few weeks ago.
Saliby: And how do these results about how Michiganders are feeling stack up against national perceptions of data centers
Bessette: Well, one of the interesting things about this data is that we actually found Michigan residents are more opposed to data centers than folks are across the U.S. We found that about two thirds of Michigan respondents to our surveys are either strongly or somewhat opposed to the construction of data centers in their community, and only 11% of respondents showed any form of support.
And that's actually much higher than what a recent survey reported to be the U.S. national average of 65%. So, 70% of Michigan respondents were opposed compared to 65% across the U.S.
Saliby: With the election coming up, data centers have also become a campaign issue and a political issue. How did people's opinions on data centers match up to political affiliation?
Bessette: Well, it's funny. There's not too many things that are bipartisan these days, but opposition to data centers certainly is. We saw that over three quarters of self-described Democrats were at least somewhat or strongly opposed to data center development in their communities, and that's compared to self-described Republicans, where it's a slightly lower amount, but still 58% were opposed to data center development. So, 76% of Democrats compared to 58% of Republicans, but still low support across both parties.
Saliby: There were other questions you asked beyond just supporting or opposing data centers. Are there some other findings from the survey that you think are important to point out?
Bessette: Yeah, we were really interested in why are people opposed to data centers, and I think it really comes down to the environment, the economy and what they think will happen to their home energy costs. We found that nearly three out of four respondents thought the data centers were either mostly bad or somewhat bad for the environment. That's compared to about half of respondents thinking data centers were either mostly bad or somewhat bad for the economy.
And when you talk to them about what they think data centers will do to home energy costs, you see more folks worried about that. Over three quarters of our respondents thought data centers would likely increase home energy costs by either a little bit or a lot, and those numbers are greater than the number of U.S. adults more broadly who said that data centers are mostly bad for home energy costs per a recent Pew survey.
Saliby: Was there anything in there that was surprising that you maybe weren't expecting?
Bessette: I think the one thing, it's not necessarily surprising, but we did see that respondents wanted local governments to have a say in permitting data centers, and you see this coming out of a lot of the candidates that are running for office right now.
83% of our respondents thought that local governments should at least have some say in the permitting of data centers, and folks should also understand that municipalities in Michigan can establish zoning ordinances for data centers, but they're prohibited from enacting outright bans. So, to some extent, their hands are tied with what they can do with data centers.
Saliby: You know, we met basically a year ago to talk about local governments and data centers and kind of how they respond to community concerns. How has your work changed, or your perceptions of data centers changed in this year?
Bessette: So, one thing I think people should keep in mind is the tax incentives that were passed at the state level were enacted before we saw a lot of this opposition throughout the state. So, at that time, it seemed appropriate to foster data center development in the state. We knew there was a lot of money.
We didn't want to necessarily find ourselves missing out on proposals in other states that provided more incentives. And yet, as those tax incentives have gone into effect, we see that people are much more opposed to this development than maybe we thought would be the case.
And so now you're seeing this dilemma between the tax incentives that the state provides and pretty consistent and majority opposition to the data centers that those tax incentives are promoting. So, I think that's that's been interesting to watch.
Saliby: Doug Bessette is a Michigan State University professor. You can find more about his team's survey at wkar.org.
