A plurality of residents are negative on AI's impact on jobs and the environment, while opinion on daily life and education is more mixed

Most New Jerseyans say the costs of a data center outweigh the benefits, do not want one built in their area or the state and are mixed or negative about artificial intelligence’s (AI) impact on education, jobs and the environment, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.

This is despite how routine AI has become for residents, whether they are using it intentionally or encountering it as part of the technology they use every day.

Asked to weigh the jobs and tax revenue data centers could bring against their use of electricity and water and the prospect of higher utility bills, 55% of New Jerseyans say the costs outweigh the benefits, 11% say the benefits outweigh the costs, and 19% say costs and benefits are about equal. Sixteen percent are unsure.

New Jerseyans oppose data centers wherever they might be built in the state, though opposition eases somewhat as the proposed location moves farther from home.

Seventy-two percent are opposed to a data center being built in their town or city (54% “strongly,” 18% “somewhat”), while 21% are supportive (6% “strongly,” 15% “somewhat”).

Sixty-four percent are opposed to one in a neighboring county (42% “strongly,” 22% “somewhat”) and 26% are supportive (7% “strongly,” 19% “somewhat”).

Sixty-two percent are opposed to a data center being built in the state generally (39% “strongly,” 23% “somewhat”), versus 30% who are supportive (10% “strongly,” 20% “somewhat”).

“What stands out about data centers is that no group reaches majority support anywhere - not in their own town, not in a neighboring county, not in the state at large,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “The main difference across groups is how strongly they object, and the only place any group softens is when the project is far away from them.”

Thirty percent of residents say AI has a positive impact on their day-to-day life (10% “very,” 20% “somewhat”), while 21% say it has a negative impact (10% “very,” 11% “somewhat”); 42% say both positive and negative and 7% don’t know.

Twenty percent say AI has a positive impact on education (7% “very,” 13% “somewhat”), while 39% say it has a negative impact (21% “very,” 18% “somewhat”); 38% say it is a mix of positive and negative and 4% don’t know.

When it comes to jobs, 14% say AI has a positive impact (3% “very,” 11% “somewhat”) and 43% say it has a negative impact (24% “very,” 19% “somewhat”). Thirty-five percent say it has both a positive and negative impact and 6% are unsure.

Residents are most pessimistic about the impact of AI on the environment: Forty-eight percent think it has a negative impact on the environment (31% “very,” 17% “somewhat”), while 12% say it has a positive impact (3% “very,” 9% “somewhat”). Twenty-six percent say AI has both a positive and negative impact on the environment and 14% don’t know.

“Residents are willing to say AI helps their own day-to-day life, but they turn negative as soon as the question moves beyond them to education, jobs and the environment,” said Koning. “They personally find it useful but are skeptical about its broader impact.”

More than a third of New Jerseyans say they purposefully use AI tools such as a chatbot, writing or image generator or an AI assistant at least once a day. Eight percent say they use these tools almost constantly, 17% say several times a day and 11% about once a day. Fifteen percent say they use AI tools several times a week and 25% say they use them less often. About one in five say they never use AI tools (21%).

Fifty-five percent say they interact with AI through everyday technology with built-in AI functions, such as search engines or social media, at least once a day. Eleven percent say they interact with AI in this way almost constantly, 31% say several times a day and 13% say about once a day. Fourteen percent say they interact with AI in this way several times a week, 21% say less often and 8% say they never interact with AI like this.

“AI is uncharted, complex territory, and views on it depend greatly on what you are asking about and how you ask it,” said Koning. “A sizeable share of residents uses AI both actively and passively, yet they do not want the data centers that house it built anywhere near them. That is a difficult place for any new technology to be and a difficult one for policymakers to legislate around.”

Partisans are indistinguishable from one another when it comes to how they use AI, but Republicans stand apart from their counterparts on what they think of it.

Roughly a third of Democrats (36%), independents (37%) and Republicans (34%) purposefully use AI tools at least once a day. Republicans are the only partisan group where as many as 4 in 10 call any of AI’s impacts positive, with 41% saying it has a positive effect on their day-to-day life.

Democrats and independents are generally more pessimistic about AI’s impact than Republicans. Fifty-two percent of Democrats and 46% of independents say AI has a negative impact on jobs, compared with 24% of Republicans. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats and 53% of independents think AI has a negative environmental impact, compared with 25% of Republicans.

Education is one of two items where Democrats and independents separate, with Democrats more likely to say AI has a negative impact (46%) compared with independents (36%) and Republicans (30%). The other is day-to-day life, where 27% of Democrats say AI’s impact is negative compared with 16% of independents and 17% of Republicans.

The same pattern holds for data centers: Thirty-four percent of Republicans either strongly or somewhat support one in their own town, compared with 19% of independents and 14% of Democrats. Thirty-seven percent of Republicans say the costs of building data centers outweigh the benefits, compared with 57% of independents and 63% of Democrats.

“Who uses AI is a question of age, education, income and where you live – not partisanship,” said Koning. “Party takes over once you ask what people think, both about AI’s impact and about data centers, though it is far from the only divide.”

While younger residents are using AI more than older residents, the former are much more negative on the topic than the latter. Fifty-three percent of those ages 18 to 34 and 46% of those 35 to 49 use AI tools on purpose at least once a day, compared with 30% of those 50 to 64 and 19% of those 65 and older. The same gap appears on built-in AI in everyday technology (65% for ages 18 to 34 and 60% for ages 35 to 49 versus 48% for those 50 to 64 and 45% for those 65 and older).

Yet residents 18 to 49 are more negative on education (52% of those 18 to 34 and 42% of those 35 to 49) than those 50 and older. Residents 18 to 34 are more negative about AI’s impact on jobs (58%) and the environment (69%) compared with their older counterparts. Those 18 to 34 are the most opposed to data centers being built in the state (73%) and the most likely to say the costs outweigh the benefits (66%).

Gender divides residents on AI’s personal and educational impact and on data centers, though not on how often they use it. Women are more negative than men about AI’s impact on their own day-to-day life (26% versus 13%) and on education (44% versus 32%).

Race and ethnicity impact residents’ thoughts on what AI does to them personally. Forty-seven percent of residents who identify as multiracial or another race or ethnicity say AI has a positive impact on their day-to-day life, compared with 30% of Hispanic, 28% of white and 26% of Black residents. Black residents are more negative than white residents on jobs (54% versus 40%).

Residents with a high school education or less are less likely to use AI tools on purpose at least once a day (20%), compared with 41% of those with some college education, 44% of college graduates, and 44% of those who have done graduate work. The share saying AI has a positive impact on their day-to-day life rises with educational attainment, from 20% among those with a high school education or less to 38% among those who have done graduate work.

The share of residents saying AI has a positive impact on their daily life increases with household income, from 23% among those earning under $50,000 to 37% among those earning $150,000 or more.

Urban and suburban residents are the heaviest intentional users of AI tools, with 52% and 41% using them at least once a day, compared with 28% in exurban areas, 27% in the Philadelphia/South Jersey region and 28% at the shore.

Results are from a statewide poll of 1,004 adults contacted through the probability-based Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel from Sept. 24 to Sept. 27. The full sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.