Not to imply that Politico is desperately shilling for Joe Biden, but a new editorial by GOP consultant Mike Murphy tries to imply that Republicans opposing a proposition that has mounting problems and diminishing interest will become a poison pill for the party come November. The electric vehicle market has been a pet project of Joe Biden since he took office, and it has proven a failing enterprise since.

One indicator of the wrong-headed approach was seen from Pete Buttigieg recently, as he appeared on Fox News and attempted to ridicule people who were not jumping enthusiastically into the EV market. “I feel like it's the early 2000s and I'm talking to people who think we can just have landline phones forever."

Pete Buttigieg on Fox News on EVs: "Sometimes when these debates happen, I feel like it's the early 2000s and I'm talking to people who think we can just have landline phones forever." pic.twitter.com/zrJHsaxjz4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 2, 2024

Pure genius. Not only does Secretary Pete ignore that landlines still exist (and serve a vital purpose during emergencies), but to shame people into buying EVs he also attempts to mock people who still have phones that plug into walls, to get them to move towards his cherished vehicles – that need to be plugged into walls.

The other failure in his fractured analogy is that people enthusiastically moved into cell phone usage as it was a technology that served a greater purpose, they were not forced into it by government mandate. Also, cell phones have not delivered near the list of failures we have seen in the EV marketplace. As Ben Kew recently covered, a new Gallup poll shows a diminishing interest in the public for these vehicles, and it is far from surprising. Just in 2024 we have seen examples of this movement trending towards boondoggle rather than our energy salvation.

In the face of this data showing public aversion, Murphy springs up to declare that Republicans risk political fallout if they continue to display opposition to EVs. It's about as paradoxical a claim as one might find. 

The desperation in this piece is evident, beginning with the assessment of Donald Trump’s verbal lashing at the electric push from Biden. Murphy referenced the recent hysteria over Trump using the term “bloodbath” in a speech, saying that was “part of a tirade against the Biden administration’s push for EVs.” 

Um, no Mike - that was the entire point Trump was making; he was discussing specifically China’s threat to the auto industry by building EVs in Mexico and looking to dominate the U.S. market. Biden’s push will benefit the Chi-Coms and be disastrous for American car companies, hence an economic bloodbath under further Biden rule.

Like Gallup, Murphy helped set up a poll to gauge interest in buying EVs, and he found results similarly showing a divide between parties. Republicans expressed a 40% unfavorable result, while Democrats had a net favorable impression of +15%. Murphy went on to deliver his impression of this return.

Why such Republican hostility toward electric cars? It’s tribal, Murphy argues. In our modern politics, any friend of my enemy must be my enemy too. If Joe Biden is for EVs, we must be against them. GOP politicians looking for cheap applause cannot help but pile on and amplify one of the latest turns in the culture war.

What does it say about somebody conducting a poll on a topic and having this myopic approach? He sees the only reason to oppose EVs to be Joe Biden’s position, but somehow the Democrat fealty to this effort is not considered to be motivated by their Biden devotion. He states independents favoring the cars by +4% could tip election scales (though this is the usual margin of error), and that the potential swing states in the election are where EV components are manufactured.

This exposes the lack of objectivity in his analysis. The automakers in the U.S. have been looking for ways to ease away from what has been a money-losing venture. The larger manufacturers can weather losing billions annually on EVs, but those smaller companies dedicated to only electric products are shuttering on the regular. Following the miscalculation of purchasing 60,000 EVs and butchering customer servicing, Hertz pushed out its CEO and is now selling off one-third of that fleet.

These realities are coupled with numerous other negative issues, but Murphy concludes that a party looking at all of this adverse evidence and still touting the benefits of EVs is NOT the party acting tribal or in a cult-like fashion. To call it a risk for Republicans to oppose something voters display an aversion towards is amusing, but he misses one other point.

If the EV market is so vital to a November success, then what of Joe Biden’s failings on the matter? It was two years ago that he pledged $7.5 billion towards the charging infrastructure of the nation. Since then the amount of car chargers installed by the administration numbers in the – Zero. 

This was a detail reported in… Politico.