Two-thirds of Oregon voters support temporarily blocking new data centers that assist artificial intelligence, and nearly 75% oppose tax breaks for the facilities that are commonplace in the state.

Those are among the findings of a new poll from Portland firm DHM Research that gauged voters’ feelings about AI and data centers, along with their support for public policies to regulate or support the industry.

The findings are not necessarily surprising, coming amid growing backlash over data centers that have surged in Oregon in the ongoing AI boom. But the broad public skepticism over the facilities will certainly be of interest to policymakers, who are in the process of deciding how to revamp the state’s regulations for data centers.

“Despite the economic and political stakes of data centers and AI, we know little about what Oregonians expect from their elected leaders or the policies that voters support,” DHM Research, which self-funded the poll, wrote in a blog post announcing the findings.

The firm polled 600 Oregon registered voters from July 23-28, using both phone interviews and text messages pointing respondents to an online survey. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%.

DHM found 71% of voters have negative feelings about data centers that power the AI ambitions of major tech companies such as Apple, Amazon and Meta.

The facilities have become a lightning rod over concerns they consume large amounts of power, employ relatively few full-time workers, and eat into public budgets via tax breaks.

The poll also found Oregon voters take a dim view of AI and chatbots, with roughly 60% of people expressing negative feelings toward the technology.

Once assessing voters’ overall views, it asked them about 10 policy choices surrounding AI — five of them to restrict the industry and five of them to bolster it.

DHM found voters were overwhelmingly in favor of policies that place sideboards on AI use. For instance, 93% believe companies should be required to inform customers if they’re talking to a chatbot, and 89% want to require safety tests and state monitoring for the most powerful AI models.

The notion of temporarily blocking construction of AI data centers was less popular, but still found support from 66% of Oregon voters.

Democrats were far more likely to support a data center moratorium, with 77% in favor. But the poll found that a majority of Republican voters, 51%, might also back such a move.

Voters also broadly support banning AI-generated images in campaign ads. Oregon, like most other states, currently allows AI as long as campaigns disclose its use.

Policies that were more supportive of AI were less popular with voters. Though 58% of respondents backed the idea of teaching school children about AI, other suggestions saw either a plurality or outright majority opposed.

Most dramatically, 73% of respondents said they would not support providing tax breaks to attract data centers and their attendant construction and tech jobs.

Once again, Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to take that position, 83% to 54%. But the overall sentiment spanned the state, with 75% of voters in the Portland metro region opposing tax breaks, compared to 72% in the Willamette Valley and 73% in the remainder of Oregon.

“There aren’t these big demographic differences by generation or education or area of the state — at least as we sit right now,” said John Horvick, senior vice president of DHM Research. “Things are moving quickly and maybe that will change.”

Oregon currently has somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 data centers, which serve a broad array of computing purposes. Those facilities have reaped big property tax breaks thanks to state economic development tools, with incentives totaling more than $400 million a year.

But backlash over fast-expanding data centers has swept the nation, and proved potent in some Oregon political contests. State and local policymakers are grappling with how to restrain or better harness the facilities.

Some Democrats want the state to take a break. On Monday, four progressive state lawmakers joined two leftist legislative candidates to urge a three-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers. The coalition plans to submit a bill during the 2027 legislative session, which begins in January.

“Oregon should be leading the nation in healthcare, education and housing, not in data center construction,” said state Rep. Lesly Munoz, D-Woodburn, whose sister, Myrna, defeated a sitting Senate Democrat this year in a primary race where data centers featured heavily. While Oregon has more data centers than many states, it does not lead the nation in their construction.

Other Democrats have not signaled they’re ready for a years-long moratorium. Gov. Tina Kotek convened an advisory committee on data centers in January that plans to submit recommendations for new policies by the year’s end.

But as the group considered its options at a meeting Tuesday, an outright ban on new data centers appeared to be off the table.

“We hear a lot about, ‘Put in place a moratorium’ from some folks,” Margi Hoffmann, the committee’s co-chair, said at the meeting. “That was not our charge. Our charge was to look at, if this type of economic development is going to continue in the state, how do we do that in a way that we are good stewards of air, land, water and tax resources?”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/04/oregon-data-centers-polling-data/