Tony Fabrizio is a Republican pollster and strategist and a partner in the polling and campaign-strategy firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, which signs its memoranda as Fabrizio Lee. The firm states that he has been chief pollster on five presidential campaigns, including Donald Trump's 2016 and 2024 campaigns (Source: fabriziolee.com). In AI policy he is the author of a September 2026 messaging memorandum on data-center politics addressed to Republican candidates (Fabrizio Lee — Neutralizing Political Attacks on AI Data-Center Development Through Enforceable Conditions (memorandum, September 14, 2026)).
Background
According to the firm's biography, Fabrizio's peers at the American Association of Political Consultants named him "Pollster of the Year" in 2017 and 2025 for his work on Trump's campaigns. He has conducted the Wall Street Journal's election-focused public polling in partnership with the Democratic firm Impact Research, and has been a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics and Georgetown's Institute of Politics and Public Service. The firm lists corporate clients including Visa, Microsoft, Apple, Bank of America, Google, Juul, Uber, Pfizer, Hewlett-Packard, HCA, Dow Chemical, UPS, Altria and PepsiCo (Source: fabriziolee.com).
Data-center memorandum (2026)
In a memorandum dated September 14, 2026 and addressed "To: GOP Candidates & Policymakers," Fabrizio wrote that "unqualified support for building more AI data centers is a losing position," reporting survey results in which voters opposed additional construction 65% to 24% and 61% preferred construction with protections against 28% favoring a ban and 7% favoring approval wherever local officials decide. He recommended that candidates support "the AI infrastructure America needs" only when developers pay for their own power, protect ratepayers from higher bills and safeguard local water and natural resources, with enforcement through binding agreements, bonds, compliance reporting, penalties and suspension authority, and advised against using the phrase "build data centers." The memorandum states that its survey did not test effects on vote share and tested the three conditions only as a package; it does not name the survey's sponsor, field dates, sample or question wording (Fabrizio Lee — Neutralizing Political Attacks on AI Data-Center Development Through Enforceable Conditions (memorandum, September 14, 2026)).
WIRED, which linked the memorandum, described Fabrizio as a "GOP strategist" and reported the memorandum alongside President Donald Trump's continued public defense of data centers (Source: wired.com). The memorandum does not refer to Trump's statements on data centers, mentioning him only in the voter group "2024 Trump voters not currently voting GOP," and does not refer to the National Republican Senatorial Committee's August 2026 memorandum on the same issue.
Relationships
- related: Fabrizio Lee — Neutralizing Political Attacks on AI Data-Center Development Through Enforceable Conditions (memorandum, September 14, 2026) — his memorandum on data-center politics
- related: Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics — the political economy the memorandum addresses
- related: National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) — party committee that circulated a separate data-center memorandum in August 2026
- related: Donald Trump — client of the firm's presidential polling
- related: AI in Elections and Democratic Institutions