Have we become so politically polarized that there is nothing anymore that doesn’t become a political football?

A recent Gallup poll found that 61% of Democrats are open to buying an electric vehicle in the future, while 69% of Republicans say they would not buy an EV, ever. That huge disparity exists, according to Washington Post columnist Shannon Osaka, because GOP leaders, including Donald Trump, “have injected electric vehicles into the culture wars.” Just as they did getting vaccinated for Covid 19 and wearing face masks four years earlier.

“There is one thing holding the nation back from the dream of an all-electric future: political polarization,” said Shannon Osaka. Republicans are denouncing EVs as un-American and unmanly — a vehicle that only liberals would drive.

After the Biden administration announced its plan to encourage carmakers to increase electric car production and sales, Republican leaders began referring to EVs as “Biden-mobiles” and claimed that “Democrats are depriving Americans of their right to choose which cars they drive.”

These complaints arise from a “deep-seated psychological worldview” that’s hostile to change and new technology. As a result, EVs now sell mostly in Democratic areas. Cars have become “not just a way to get around but a form of personal expression, identity, and group membership.”

Unfortunately, once purchasing patterns become political, they become almost hardwired into the ideology. EVs versus gas-powered vehicles has become the latest political hot potato.

If Republicans persist, solely for political reasons, in their reluctance to embrace electric vehicles, the U.S. will find it exceedingly challenging to achieve its climate change targets. But Republicans seem compelled to protect the fossil fuel industry at all costs, even if the costs are those of the survival of the human race.