Pollster reveals fight flying under radar that's enraging swing voters

Pollsters are finding that swing voters are increasingly worried about a trending issue that's being overlooked.

Sarah Longwell, a Republican pollster and the publisher of The Bulwark, revealed in a podcast that swing voters are sharing a long list of concerns about AI data centers with pollsters.

The issue is "flying under the radar as a big picture issue for folks in D.C., but I hear it coming up all the time in focus groups," Longwell said. "I know some people are paying attention to this, but I mean, the voters talk about it all the time."

She played audio from a focus group interview with a Georgia small-town voter who described the impact of AI data centers as "devastating" and explained why she's bothered.

"I'm in the middle of a huge countywide fight against data centers," one voter said. "People are showing up about their water already, and about 40 people are being pushed out of their homes. It's just very personal."

The voter added that the fight against AI data centers "took the cake for me on whether or not I might vote. The only reason I'm going to is because maybe when I go to heaven, it'll count for something."

Another voter from Pittsburgh said that data centers are replacing "old mill sites," and "people are saying, 'We don't want them! We don't want them! We don't want them!'" Pittsburgh residents are opposed to the water consumption and pollution created by data centers, "but they just keep coming," he went on.

"It doesn't matter who the governor is, who the mayor is," he said. "They're all on board because it's job creation."

Longwell predicted, "Does this become a 2028 issue?" referring to the next presidential election. "I suspect it does."