全美各地的数据中心正在以惊人的速度拔地而起，自去年11月以来，用于建设数据中心（尚不包括内部昂贵的芯片）的资金已超过了新建办公楼的支出。例如，在密歇根州萨林镇（Saline township），十来座起重机高耸于农田之上，混凝土搅拌车络绎不绝；OpenAI与甲骨文（Oracle）在此合建的“谷仓”（The Barn）项目完工后，其耗电量将超过一座中等规模城市。尽管开发商收购了旁边的Rustic Glen高尔夫俱乐部并承诺注资，但当地农民和居民普遍对毁坏良田及金钱收买行为感到愤怒。

尽管唐纳德·特朗普警告反对数据中心的地方恐将变得“落后和贫穷”，但共和党候选人正试图迎合不满的选民，如密歇根州共和党参议员候选人迈克·罗杰斯（Mike Rogers）已表态支持暂停建设。然而，这些举措可能为时已晚。《经济学人》利用开源数据库Compute Atlas，将《经济学人》/YouGov每周民调中的近15万名受访者与其最近的数据中心进行匹配分析后发现，日益增长的数据中心焦虑正将选民推向民主党：居住在数据中心项目2公里以内的美国人支持民主党的可能性比居住在较远地区的人高出约6个百分点，而六个月前这种差异还根本不存在。

在俄亥俄州发起反数据中心请愿的布兰登（Brandon）表示，由于当地共和党人拒绝提供帮助而民主党人大力支持，他已从共和党选民转变为摇摆选民；目前密歇根州和俄亥俄州出台的地方暂停建设令数量位居全美之首。选民的不满很少直接涉及人工智能本身，而是集中在饮用水污染、电费上涨和房价下跌等实际担忧上。由于美国民众对政府和大企业的信任度均处于近50年来的最低点，政客的承诺和开发商的资金安抚收效甚微。研究机构SemiAnalysis的玛雅·巴金（Maya Barkin）发现，迄今为止暂停令对现实建设的阻碍有限，预计仅有2.3吉瓦（GW）的项目会被推迟，但其引发的政治冲击已十分明确。

Across America, data centres are being built at a startling pace, with spending on data-centre construction since last November—excluding the expensive chips inside—surpassing investment in new office buildings. In Saline township, Michigan, about a dozen cranes tower over former farmland to build “The Barn,” an OpenAI and Oracle facility that will consume more electricity than a midsize city. Although developers bought the adjacent Rustic Glen Golf Club and promised cash injections, local farmers and residents largely resent the destruction of farmland.

While President Donald Trump has warned that communities opposing data centres risk becoming “backwards and poor,” some Republicans like Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers now support construction pauses. However, polling analysis matching nearly 150,000 respondents from the Economist/YouGov weekly survey with data-centre locations via Compute Atlas indicates that growing discontent is pushing voters toward the Democrats. Americans living within 2km of a data-centre site are approximately six percentage points more likely to support Democrats than those living further away—a gap that did not exist six months ago.

Michigan and Ohio already lead the nation in local data-centre moratoriums, and local activists report shifting from the Republican Party to become swing voters after Democrats backed their petitions. Voters rarely cite AI-specific fears; instead, opposition stems from practical concerns over water pollution, higher electricity bills, and falling house prices, amplified by public confidence in both government and big business sitting near 50-year lows. Although SemiAnalysis researcher Maya Barkin finds that only 2.3 gigawatts’ worth of projects are likely to be delayed by local moratoriums so far, the political backlash against Republicans is increasingly evident.

Source: The impact of data-centre discontent

Subtitle: Democrats are capitalising on voters’ anxiety

Dateline: Oct 15th 2026\n