Most midterm voters told exit pollsters AI will hurt society more than it helps, and local data center measures went against the industry almost everywhere.

Most midterm voters told exit pollsters AI will hurt society more than it helps, and local data center measures went against the industry almost everywhere.

In NBC News' national exit poll of Tuesday's midterm voters, "57% said AI will do more to hurt society than help," 24% said it will help, and "a large majority, 76%, said they opposed building data centers in their communities" (NBC News, exit poll results). "Voters split almost evenly over which party was better able to handle AI": 30% picked Democrats, 27% Republicans and 43% neither. AI wasn't the top issue, though. 56% called AI and data centers a decisive or important factor in their vote, which put it last of the five issues asked about, behind government corruption at 90% (The Decoder). On local ballots, Ballotpedia tracked 41 data center measures in 10 states, and CNBC reports that "voters sided against data centers in each measure except one in Harwood, North Dakota" (CNBC, Ballotpedia). The Washington Post's count, which has risen through the day, is "at least 38 jurisdictions" that passed bans or restrictions (Washington Post). Ohio had 21 of the measures. Data centers also came up in top races. CNBC says Democrat Sherrod Brown beat Republican Sen. Jon Husted after casting him as "the face of data centers." Ohio's new governor, Democrat Amy Acton, backs a "conditional moratorium," and in Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott after blaming him for the state's rapid data center buildout.

What to watch: the local wins mean more pauses, zoning limits and conditions on new data centers, especially in Ohio. That gives AI companies a reason to chase power and sites elsewhere. It could also slow how quickly new computing capacity comes online in the US.