Data centers have become the focal point of growing opposition to AI, with 70% of Americans opposing their construction. At least 4,000 facilities operate nationwide, while about 3,000 more are under construction or planned. The large, often windowless warehouses typically contain rows of servers that support internet services such as streaming, search, email and online gaming, but AI-focused facilities require much greater computing capacity and power. Their servers use specialized graphics processing units (GPUs) to train and run AI models. Critics point to electricity and water consumption, local environmental effects and pollution from generators, while Republicans warn that what they describe as toxic public views of data centers could affect political outcomes and undermine years of support from the GOP and investors. Former NFL star Jason Kelce has partnered his Garage beer company with Liquid Death to encourage Americans to send actual urine to data centers in protest at their water use. Globally, data centers used about 1.5% of electricity in 2024, a share the IEA estimates could reach 3% by 2030. Berkeley Lab estimates U.S. facilities could consume 9.5% to 15.3% of national electricity by 2030. U.S. data centers used about 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, while their indirect water footprint for electricity production was about 211 billion gallons. Big Tech companies, Nvidia and infrastructure investors remain committed to expanding capacity, making the evolution of the backlash and its potential role in the midterms and beyond the key issues to watch.