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poll.
>> Thank you.

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>> Franklin's Marquette
survey also shows that 78%

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of those polled think the
costs of data centers

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outweigh the benefits.
Across Wisconsin,

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communities are in battle
over the growth of them,

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the size of data centers,
the jobs, their impact on

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energy, and the economy.
It's all part of the debate

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tonight, "Here& Now".
Reporter Murv Seymour takes

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a deep look at the
importance of data centers

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to voters and their
potential impact on

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upcoming election
strategies.

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>> Wisconsin faces a huge
challenge.

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>> We need data in
everything that we do, and

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it's got to be stored and
secured and accessible and

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managed in a reasonable and
safe way.

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>> Parts of the Dairyland.
>> There are locations

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elsewhere in Wisconsin even
that would be more

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appropriate.
>> Morphing into dandelion.

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With the growth of data
centers across the state,

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tech companies drawn to
Wisconsin for its climate,

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water, land, infrastructure
and available workforce. In

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its polling of Wisconsin
voters about the most

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important issues, Marquette
pollster Charles Franklin

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tells me data centers are
barely on the radar for

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Democratic, Republican and
independent voters, but

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becoming a flashpoint in
the race for the governor

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with heated campaign ads.
>> Data center David

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Crowley won't roll back
data center tax incentives.

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>> For data centers
accountable and make them

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pay.
>> What's so striking is

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there's just no pocket
within the state of public

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opinion. That's really pro
data centers inflation and

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the cost of living is 42%.
It's been the top issue for

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at least four years now.
Doesn't seem to be going

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away at all. But data
centers, in contrast, only

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5% name data centers is
most important. Running in

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an environment where so
many people are opposed but

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don't think it's the most
important issue, is a

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reason for candidates to
sort of stay a little clear

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of that issue or express
some opposition, but maybe

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be a little vague.
Opposition or fear of

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artificial intelligence
turns out to be a pretty

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big contributor to
opposition to data centers.

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>> We want Wisconsin to win.
We want America to win.

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>> But there is a dedicated
constituency in favor of

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them and the jobs they
bring.

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>> And we're willing to
help anybody who wants to

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get started in these
technologies.

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>> And Waukesha Community
Technical College President

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Rich Barnhouse tells me
they proudly cultivate

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students and careers in AI
technologies, which

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includes jobs in the
booming data center arena.

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>> When I was meeting with
a lot of companies who had

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20 or fewer employees,
which is the traditional,

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typical Wisconsin business,
and they weren't using the

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words artificial
intelligence. But when I

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asked what they were
looking for in an employee

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in the next few years, they
were describing artificial

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intelligence without
knowing they were

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describing it. This is just
flourished. It got so big

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we had to go out and do a
capital campaign, and we're

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adding about 12,000ft'!S of
space.

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>> Large and small. A
growing number of tech

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companies are lured to
Wisconsin, spending

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billions to build data
centers. 1 billion by meta

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in Beaver Dam, 15 billion
by Oracle in Port

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Washington in over 20
billion by Microsoft in

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Mount Pleasant, altogether
creating nearly 2000 full

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time jobs. Rob Marchant
loves it. He travels the

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state, lobbying others to
fill the same way. He says

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he doesn't want Wisconsin
to miss out on the growth

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of the industry.
>> We're a state that makes

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things. We build things and
we solve problems. So we

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did that with heavy
machinery manufacturing.

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We're doing it now with
advanced manufacturing,

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high technology, medical
devices.

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>> Marchant leads me to the
small town of Winneconne,

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population 2500. And some
change steps away from the

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town's bright blue water
tower sits Switchgear Power

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Systems, a 400 person
company whose CEO estimates

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just over a third of its
workers build components

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that support data centers
in and outside of Wisconsin.

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>> So they've had a really
large impact already on our

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economy.
>> But his group's estimate,

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a $13 billion impact in
Wisconsin, supply chain

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workers at job sites and in
education when it comes to

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concerns over water and
power use. Rob Marchant

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says this.
>> These new data centers

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are paying their own way as
far as power infrastructure

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goes and their power bills.
And we have closed loop

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cooling, which again uses
very little to no water.

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Depending on the size of
the data center, they can

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fund schools. There's
property tax revenue. Does

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the community need
snowplows? Does it need a

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library? Does it want
stream restoration? It's

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really kind of depends. But
those benefits are real.

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And I hate to I hate to
think of a community just

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saying no without exploring
the possibilities,

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understanding the facts,
and then making an informed

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choice.
>> A few blocks from the

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heart of downtown Port
Washington, also called the

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port around here, Jeff
Lueck is part of the

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constituency against data
centers.

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>> I won't stop pushing
back until they're stopped.

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Oh, the bumblebees are out,
too.

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>> In between watering
flowers, Jeff Lueck tells

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me he made his informed
decision on data centers

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months ago, and he's not
ashamed to show it.

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>> People don't have time
to put in on this kind of

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stuff, and I get that it's
that important, and someone

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has to open their mouth.
There may be some extra

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downtown traffic, there may
be things in the grocery

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stores or the restaurants,
but on weekends you watch

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everybody move on out.
>> The community's

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opposition hasn't been
enough to stop the 24 hour

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construction of the massive
672 acre data center from

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being built about a mile
away from Jeff's home. For

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the tech giant Oracle.
>> It don't need to be any

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bigger than what it is here
in port today.

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>> He and others continue
to have concerns about the

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potential expansion of the
data center, its impact on

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energy, water and the
environment.

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>> The trail was used a ton.
I used that interurban

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trail myself at times, and
there's nowhere near the

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amount of people using it
that there were using it a

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couple of times with just
the interurban trail.

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They've interrupted us with
it.

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>> Can you hear that? Does
that mean they support you?

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>> That's our support. And
I still get the beeps just

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standing in my yard.
>> In communities all

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across Wisconsin, voters
and politicians have some

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tough decisions to make
about the future of data

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centers in the state.
>> Good government follows

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a process that takes in
information from all sides,

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evaluates it, and then
makes a decision.

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>> We can do this community
by community, industry by

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industry, or we can take a
look at things collectively,

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holistically and say, how
do we want to do this in

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our state.
>> Doing what makes sense

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for Wisconsin and the
people that live here

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reporting from Port
Washington, Madison and

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Pewaukee. I'm Murv Seymour
for here now.

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>> Another controversy in
>> Another controversy in