(AP/Gray News) — President Donald Trump posted on social media that U.S. communities that don’t have data centers will “end up being backwards and poor.”

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote:

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign. The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!”

There has been a backlash across the country to the construction of data centers needed to further develop artificial intelligence. The public has expressed concerns about their use of electricity and water, and their secretive development by tech companies. Many Americans are also worried that AI could increase economic disparities and cause widespread job losses.

Data center advocates stress that the local taxes these facilities pay can help fund public schools, reducing the financial burden on homeowners.

Vice President JD Vance tried to clarify Trump’s critique on social media that data center opponents would leave their communities “backwards and poor.”

The vice president told reporters that Trump was stressing the importance of data centers for artificial intelligence and that “99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and higher electricity (prices) for the people on the ground.”

Vance said companies building data centers should build power plants to generate their own electricity in accordance with the administration’s policies.

“If you build a data center, you should be putting power back into the grid, not taking it out, and if that is happening, I don’t think the data centers are that controversial,” Vance said.

A Fox News poll from July found that 70% of voters are against data centers in their communities.

Data centers have the most backing among Trump supporters (46% favor data centers), while 80% of liberal voters oppose them, the poll found.

Copyright 2026 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.