Growing Number of Americans Resistant to Purchasing Electric Vehicles Following Biden’s Push Against Gasoline Cars

A Gallup poll released on Monday shows Americans are less interested in buying electric vehicles than they were last year, even amid the Biden administration’s efforts to crack down on gas-powered vehicles.

Nearly half—48 percent—of Americans in 2024 said they would not consider purchasing an electric vehicle, a 7 percentage point increase from last year. Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who are seriously considering or might consider buying an electric vehicle dropped from 55 percent to 44 percent within the past year, according to the Monday poll.

The poll results came after President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency on March 20 finalized what the Washington Post called Biden’s “most far-reaching climate regulation yet,” cracking down on gas-powered car emissions and effectively forcing 56 percent of new vehicles to be electric by 2032.

Biden originally proposed that at least 67 percent of new sedans, crossovers, SUVs, and light trucks would need to be electric by 2032. But the proposal faced a barrage of criticism from auto unions, and the EPA later scaled back the electrification timeline.

The Gallup poll also shows Democrats are more likely than Republicans to own or consider buying an electric car. Nine percent of Democrats own one, compared with 6 percent of Republicans. Sixty-nine percent of Republicans and 27 percent of Democrats said they would not consider purchasing an electric car.

Gallup on Monday described the electric vehicle market in the United States as still limited. “Unless that market expands greatly in the next few years, it is unlikely auto companies doing business in the U.S. will be able to meet the emissions targets laid out by the Biden administration,” Gallup said. “Those targets may need to be relaxed further if Biden is reelected, or they may be done away with under a second Trump administration.”