Welcome to the EV Politics Project!
We’re on a Mission. Maybe not from God like the Blues Brothers, but still … it’s a worthy mission. I started the EV Politics Project because I’m both a conservative Republican (albeit not of the current and tragic Trump variety) and an all-out EV enthusiast. (Though I still have a major soft spot for the 440 V8 Magnum equipped Dodge Monaco police cruiser, built at the old Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck Michigan, a proud little city located inside Detroit, my hometown.) I’m a car guy and after a decade or two of sneering at EVs as liberal smug-mobiles, well, I came around. You just cannot beat better physics; fewer moving parts, far less maintenance, great performance and no more gas stations. Not to mention cleaner air and better geopolitics. (The old Dodge Main came around too; it was torn down in 1981 and replaced with a new multi-billion dollar GM plant called Factory Zero which today makes Hummer EVs and soon, the highly anticipated all-electric Chevy Silverado pickup.)
As a political consultant, I’ve been fascinated, and disappointed, to watch how the Republican Party that I’ve loyally served for decades has reflexively stampeded toward rejecting electric vehicles, whether doing that makes real sense or not. To me, the case for EVs is simple; as machines, they are a far more elegant engineering solution to the problem of personal mobility. They are more fun to drive, quiet, simpler to make, easier and cheaper to maintain, far better for clean air and climate change, and they don’t require reliance on dodgy foreign oil. What’s not to like? That Joe Biden has embraced them? Get over that, my friends! It’s science!
So, I decided to do something about all of this. First, I wanted to learn more about what is driving the growing hostility to EVs among so many Republicans. So I reached out to the only top-level Republican pollster I know who; A.) was an original DeLoren owner and is a certified car nut, B.) switched to driving a Tesla in 2019 and is like me an EV guy, and C.) was once the rock concert promoter — as a graduate student — who brought The Rolling Stones to Alabama so our music tapes on any EV Politics Project mandated road trips will be expertly handled. I am happy to say that my old friend and strategic partner on many political campaigns Dr. David Hill has joined the EV Politics Project as our top research advisor.
We recently completed a national poll of 600 voters/consumers — with HH income of $50K+ to better reflect the U.S. new car market — that compares perceptions about EVs between Democrats, Republicans and Independents, as well as Biden favorable voters vs Trump favorable voters. We also took a look at the conflicting views people hold about EV pioneer Elon Musk as he has evolved in the public mind from lefty EV Jesus to populist conservative iconoclast. We looked at where both Republicans and Democrats actually agree on EVs, as well as where they disagree.
Our plan is to release our research after we officially launch this project in mid-January. We will release a series of reports on topics like The Elon Musk Brand Dilemma, the growing Red State Curtain against EVs, the divide over EVs and climate change and more. We’ll also be active in the automotive trade press and the political media publicizing our findings. And we’ll post a ton of content on this newsfeed on our website.
Beyond our initial research, I set up the EV Politics Project to develop effective communications strategies to move Republicans away from knee-jerk tribal hostility to EVs. We plan to be aggressive during the 2024 election year to push back on misleading partisan messages about EVs driven by ill-informed and reflexively hostile Republican leaders. (Spoiler alert; much of the huge surge in new factory investment and job creation in the EV space has occurred in vital Presidential swing states like Georgia, Nevada and Michigan.) Count on the EV Politics Project to be very active in leading the good fight to bring EV common sense directly to GOP voters.
Want to help? We’d love it. If you work in the auto industry, or in the EV economic chain, reach out. We plan to meet with many of the leaders in the auto industry to brief them on our findings early next year. Also, check out our merch store! We don’t make any significant money from it, but there are plenty of fun items there and we think EV voter visibility is a good thing. You can help fly the flag with our logo wear.
