125 Cities, One Saturday

Last month, protesters showed up in 125 cities across the USA on a single Saturday to demonstrate against data centers, either proposed or already under construction. It was a coordinated day of action that NPR’s 1A programme described as a genuine turning point in how visible this movement has become. This was not a scattering of isolated local disputes.

It was a nationally coordinated wave, and it reflects a sentiment that pollsters keep confirming with increasing precision. A June 2026 survey from Echelon Insights found that voters opposed building an AI data center in their community by a margin of 62 percent to 27 percent, and even after respondents were shown additional messaging emphasizing the economic and technological benefits, opposition remained at 58 percent.