GOP seizes on voter hesitancy to attack EVs as costly to US

The Associated Press ^ | October 31, 2022 | By HOPE YEN and MATTHEW DALY

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Heading into next week’s midterm elections, many Republican candidates are seeking to capitalize on voters’ concerns about inflation by vilifying a key component of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda: electric vehicles.

On social media, in political ads and at campaign rallies, Republicans say Democrats’ push for battery-powered transportation will leave Americans broke, stranded on the road and even in the dark. Many of the attack lines are not true — the auto industry itself has largely embraced a shift to EVs, for instance, and some Republican lawmakers are quick to cheer the opening of EV battery plants in the U.S. that promise new jobs.

But political analysts say the GOP messaging exploits voter hesitancy on EVs that may have put Democrats on the defensive at a time when Americans are especially feeling a financial pinch. EVs cost $65,000 on average, a fact GOP candidates cite.

More than two-thirds of Americans say they are unlikely to purchase an electric vehicle in the next three years, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Democrats are twice as likely to say they plan to purchase one as Republicans, 37% to 16%, respectively.

“There’s still lots of selling to do before EVs catch on with the American people,” said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and longtime staffer to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. He described early Democratic messaging suggesting that EVs were an immediate solution to rising gasoline prices as a mistake. “That creates an opening for Republicans in this election, which begins and ends with the economy and inflation.”

[Clemenza]

Yes and the Japanese wear cheap ass disposable surgical masks through which most viruses pass through quickly - the one thing I don’t respect about them (and I otherwise respect the Japanese a lot).

Everything you say is correct

[poconopundit]

[The Japanese have] the population density, public behavior, and law enforcement, that makes mass transit work.

* * *

Good observation. And public behavior is a hard thing to modify when people don’t care. It inevitably means greater law enforcement.

[poconopundit]

Yes, I believe the masks are largely ineffective.

There are other things. When we stayed at a hotel, they served a buffet breakfast and each person was expected to wear very thin, transparent plastic gloves to protect against germs carried by handling juice pitchers and the buffet utensils. You take them off at your dining table — and put them back on again if you go back for seconds.

Necessary? No. But it gave me more confidence that the buffet food I was eating was handled with care for cleanliness.

People in this city do not jaywalk. And I’ve noticed the drivers of cars are very conscious of pedestrians, too. These things go hand in hand. And it’s made me think of my impatience to get somewhere faster. I need to relax and enjoy the beauty of civilized life around me.

So I’m following their lead and obeying their pedestrian laws. I’m honored they let me and my wife come to live in this nation. Maybe I can return the favor.

[V K Lee]

EV’s continue to be pushed into the main stream. They have
yet to show they are travel worthy, less expensive to own, to
use. When a vehicle catches fire, blows up, normally it's
found to be the driver's fault. An EV is able to do this on its own. Just another means for the government (ain't my ‘big brother) to dust you off. As long as the attempt is made to push these down our throats, I see them failing in so many ways. That's the story from this direction. Period.

Just wait for it... electric school bus malfunctions, explodes due to unforeseen fire. Parents throughout the US
would come to their senses fast enough.

[SunkenCiv]

The Japanese know that thugs get arrested, processed, tried, and jailed. The Creep State isn’t interested in safety, only in conning us into giving up our rights, then cowering in our homes as criminals attack us in and out of them.

[nascarnation]

On a Chevy Volt when the battery goes out you drive on the gas engine.

[poconopundit]

You nailed it VK. Electric unicorns are about to be exposed as the fraud they are.

[V K Lee]

And if there was no gas available to fill the tank? What then? Push, push, push harder!

[V K Lee]

We can only hope and pray.
To find Car manufacturers agreeing that combustible engine
is a thing of the past; future vehicles will be electric only
makes for little hope. The fact that diesel fuel now in supply
for only a few days at most. Ain't gonna be pretty!
Even POTUS Trump is warning citizens to be prepared as the
next few months will be trying times. The fuel shortage, the railway strike. It's coming down on us like a ton of bricks.

[rxh4n1]

On a Chevy Volt when the battery goes out you drive on the gas engine.

I didn’t know that. I thought it was all electric. Thanks.