Arizona Voters Strongly Oppose Biden’s 2050 Zero-Emissions Goal, Poll Reveals

Recent polling shows that likely voters in Arizona, with 22 federally recognized tribes, overwhelmingly oppose Biden’s goals to remove all emissions from the transportation sector by 2050. This key issue will likely influence their voting decisions in the 2024 elections.

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) commissioned a poll by Remington Research Group. The survey, conducted between June 29 and July 1, 2024, indicates a significant disconnect between Arizona voters and current federal policies.

Key findings from the poll reveal:

60% of likely voters oppose the ban on new gas-powered vehicles and 66% consider a candidate’s stance on this issue as crucial to their voting decision.

These statistics resonate deeply with some of our Native communities in Arizona. Many Native Americans live in rural areas with long commutes and rely on the reliability of gas-powered vehicles. The infrastructure to support electric vehicles (EVs) is decades behind, and the push towards EVs without reliable power sources like coal plants further exacerbates the issue. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, many rural localities have little experience permitting and setting up EV charging infrastructure. This lack of infrastructure in rural and tribal areas presents a significant barrier to adopting electric vehicles (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2023).

Native Americans for Sovereignty and Preservation (NASP) supports these findings. The realities our communities face, such as limited access to EV infrastructure and the necessity of long-distance travel, make the federal gas-car ban particularly detrimental. According to Politico, not only have Native lands not been served with EV stations, but the entire nation also faces significant gaps in EV infrastructure. Despite Congress agreeing in 2021 to spend $7.5 billion for the Biden-Harris Administration to build tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country to appease anxious drivers while tackling climate change, the program has yet to install a single charger two years later (Politico, 2023).

Since California and other states announced mandates to ban the sale of new internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles within the next decade, the impact on Arizona has been significant. In a statement on X, President Biden reiterated his goal that half of new cars and trucks sold in 2030 are zero-emissions vehicles. We shouldn’t be cornered into purchasing more expensive, foreign-made battery-powered vehicles with higher environmental costs. Heavy hybrids and EVs, which are expensive and have fewer charging stations, are not the answer for everyone. The average initial cost of a gasoline vehicle is $33,797, a hybrid is $39,040, and an electric vehicle is $66,997.

NASP supports these findings and believes they resonate strongly with our members’ views. We need reliable, affordable, gas-powered vehicles for our long commutes to and from our jobs, visits to our relatives, hauling water, and transporting our livestock.