President Joe Biden’s support for electric vehicles may tank his re-election chances next year, as the EV rollout continues to run into problems.
In Michigan especially, a swing state that former President Donald Trump won in 2016 and Biden won in 2020, tension over the EV issue has bubbled over into the ongoing UAW strike that continues to impact American car companies.
Tensions only continue to rise as companies like Ford and General Motors spend billions upon billions of dollars designing and building electric vehicles that autoworkers fear may lead to the jeopardization of their jobs.
‘They [EVs] have become a political football,’ said Ford Motor Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley, as he lamented the increasingly political environment surrounding the subject of electric vehicles.
In a recent statewide survey of Michigan voters, Trump led Biden 46 percent to 43 percent among the state’s United Auto Workers union members.
The drop in Biden’s numbers among union workers is likely due to the president’s vocal support of EVs.
Joe Biden’s administration has been bullish on an ongoing Electric Vehicle rollout, despite continuously running into problems
Donald Trump (pictured here at the 2011 Indianapolis 500) has been campaigning for the support of UAW union workers whose jobs may be put in jeopardy by the EV push
Support for EVs from the Biden administration has taken the form of an active push to embrace the cars by his Energy Department, as well as extending tax credits to EV buyers and subsidizing their manufacturing.
The current administration’s plan has come under fire by Republicans who wish to oust Biden in 2024 and are arguing that green EV policy will eliminate American auto-industry jobs and ultimately force unpopular policy like California’s future zero-emissions vehicle sales mandate.
Trump and Biden have both spent time in Michigan addressing the issue in recent weeks.
The former predicted that Biden’s EV policies would lead to ‘hundreds of thousands of American jobs’ being eliminated.
‘I don’t get why Ford and GM, why these carmakers, aren’t fighting … to make cars that are going to sell, to make cars that are going to be able to go on long distances,’ he said during a rally last month.
Trump’s less popular GOP competitors have also taken swings at the purported rise of EVs.
Vivek Ramaswamy said he does not support EV subsidies and has described buyers of electric vehicles as being motivated by a ‘psychological insecurity.’
Former VP Mike Pence said that the current administration’s plans are ‘driving American gasoline, automotive manufacturing, in to the graveyard.’
Electric vehicles have fewer parts and require less labor to build than gasoline powered cars. A forced embrace of EVs would almost certainly mean the elimination of many American auto-manufacturing jobs.
This past week, General Motors announced it would delay the opening of a large EV truck factory in Michigan by a year, explaining that the company needs to ‘better manage capital investments while aligning with evolving EV demand.’
That announcement followed an earlier one from Ford that pushed back to late 2024 a target of building 600,00 EVs annually.
The major US automaker has also paused construction of a $3.5billion battery plant in Michigan and temporarily cut a production shift for its electric pickup range.
Ford and GM have both announced significant delays in their EV goals. GM is delaying the opening of a massive EV truck factory, while Ford lowers the number of EVs they are expecting to produce annually
Biden, who visited a UAW picket line, positioned his push toward EVs as a stride toward the future
One issue with the Biden administration’s ongoing EV rollout is that there are not enough EV charging stations across the US, and some don’t function particularly well
The former predicted that Biden EV policies would lead to ‘hundreds of thousands of American jobs’ being eliminated
Biden, who visited a UAW picket line, positioned his push toward EVs as a stride toward the future.
‘The real question is whether we’ll lead or we’ll fall behind in the race to the future; or whether we’ll build these vehicles and the batteries that go in them here in the United States or rely on other countries,’ he said at a Ford factory stop during the early days of his administration.
The EV issue, for the moment, appears to be split along relatively partisan lines.
According to a recent survey of new-vehicle buyers, for every five Democrats in the US who own an EV, there are two Republicans who do.
The data, from President of Strategic Vision Alexander Edwards, suggest that Democrats prioritize ‘environmentally friendly’ vehicle when buying, while Republicans look first for other qualities, including vehicle prestige and performance.
In what looks like it may be a tight general election, any issue could create the divide between the winner and the loser.
In several recent Harvard Harris poll comparisons, Trump is outperforming Biden. In a direct match up, Trump is shown winning 52 percent of the vote, and Biden 48.
When third and fourth party candidates are added to the equation, Trump emerges victorious by an even wider margin.