The biggest question in the poll was this one:
Q: Some people support building data centers because they can bring jobs and tax revenue. Others are concerned they use large amounts of electricity and water and could increase utility costs. Which of the following comes closest to your view?
Poll results
Here’s an overview of the findings of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll on AI use and data centers.
A whopping 55% of the just over 1,000 people surveyed said the cost of the centers outweighed the benefits, while only 11% said the benefits outweighed the costs.
That’s why it’s the answer that surely will get all the headlines this morning, when this Rutgers-Eagleton poll is released.
But here’s what the poll question doesn’t show: Whether those they surveyed truly understand the facts around data centers.
- How there already are more than 100 data centers in the state, powering the economy for years;
- How their impact is about more than just feeding the AI tools everyone is convinced will cost them their job;
- How where they are built — and this is most important — matters far less to their energy bills than most consumers have been led to believe.
The truth is this:
Among other things, data centers help support our never-ending need to be on our smartphones, accessing bank and medical records, not to mention food and rideshare apps. And if they’re built anywhere in PJM’s 13-state region, plus D.C., your bill feels it.
Banning data centers in your town, or in New Jersey, doesn’t let you escape the cost.
That’s not to say the cost concern is made up. PJM’s capacity prices have climbed, in part because of the demand data centers are expected to add. But that cost is spread across the whole region, which is exactly why blocking one in your town doesn’t protect your bill — and in some cases, it may not be legal.
Don’t believe BINJE? That’s fine, listen to the experts.
BINJE has produced numerous stories on the subject, attempting to educate.
Let’s start here: Data centers need to pay for any infrastructure upgrades that are needed. JCP&L CEO Doug Mokoid is one of many who have spelled that out.
These upgrades — and the centers themselves — lead to a big plus for the economy.
Union officials have explained how data centers can be drivers of the economy.
N.J. Building Trades Council President Bill Mullen wrote in a BINJE op-ed that data centers mean union jobs and billions in tax revenue. Blocking them only sends those benefits to another state.
Joe Demark, president and business manager of Sheet Metal Workers Local 25, wholeheartedly agreed in this op-ed he wrote for BINJE.
Then there’s this: The new president of the BPU, Ben Hertz-Shargel, offered an interesting take during a fireside chat moderated by BINJE.
Hertz-Shargel reiterated how data centers must pay for their own infrastructure, but then added a data point few talk about: The around-the-clock use of data centers, a rare use case where demand doesn’t have the peaks that cause rate surges, helps improve system efficiency, even as other cost pressures loom. What does all of this point to? A public that isn’t getting the full picture.
It reminds some of the debate/controversy/uproar around whether offshore wind turbines were killing the whales (an interesting conclusion to reach considering those turbines were not built).
It means more information, more accurate information, needs to get out there.
Don’t believe BINJE? That’s fine, listen to the leader of the Rutgers-Eagleton poll.
Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling and the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll, told BINJE last night that she understands how complicated the data center issue is.
“AI and data centers are new to our public dialogue and to our policy sphere, and they are layered and complicated in ways people are only beginning to sort through,” she said. “Any single poll question is a blunt instrument on a subject like that.”
Koning knows the poll answers released today reflect only a snapshot in time, and that opinion will change as more information is learned (think political polls).
“Attitudes are continually forming and are influenced by how questions are asked, by what people know, and by what trade-offs they are presented with,” she said.
“As this develops, polls can not only measure where people stand but can also educate about the complexities of the trade-offs and ramifications involved. That is what this issue needs going forward, from every side of it.
“We are only at the beginning of understanding it.”
