President Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, appeared Friday on Fox Business and spoke about the economic impact of AI data centers across the country.
Hassett said local officials including selectmen and mayors have been negotiating deals with AI companies “pretty generously, in the sense that they’ve been happening all over the place, because the data centers are very good for towns because they create so many jobs, bring people in with high incomes, that can buy houses and stuff like that.”
He added, “So if you take a sleepy town that really hasn’t seen much in the last 20, 30 years, and put a data center there, then there are going to be a whole bunch of happy residents in that town.”
Take the opening Democrats! Americans hate data centers. The utility bills. The noise. The pollution. https://t.co/gzukMJI0RV
— Jessica Tarlov (@JessicaTarlov) July 31, 2026
Jessica Tarlov, the liberal voice of Fox News, amplified Hassett’s interview on social media and added, “Take the opening Democrats! Americans hate data centers. The utility bills. The noise. The pollution.”
Public opinion pollster Scott Rasmussen replied to Tarlov with data from his new polling company, Napolitan Institute, which revealed: “Voters prefer a candidate who opposes data centers over one who supports them by a 49% to 28% margin.
“However, 64% would prefer a candidate who required data centers to provide their own electricity over a candidate who wants to ban new data centers.” Rasmussen noted that, provided a data center is energy self-sufficient, “just 28% prefer the candidate who would ban data centers.”
Rasmussen also reported that “81% favor a proposal to require data centers to produce their own electricity. That includes 45% who Strongly Favor it.”
Voters prefer a candidate who opposes data centers over one who supports them by a 49% to 28% margin. However, 64% would prefer a candidate who required data centers to provide their own electricity over a candidate who wants to ban new data centers. In that case, just 28%… pic.twitter.com/xsi1FOQUwl — Scott Rasmussen (@ScottWRasmussen) July 31, 2026
[NOTE: In July 2025, the Napolitan Institute announced an AI-based partnership with Jigsaw, a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to incorporate AI into Napolitan’s polling. Rasmussen said AI would help him to “listen more clearly, to understand, and hear more clearly what the American people are thinking about.”]