{"id":405292,"date":"2026-07-20T14:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/405292\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:40:20","slug":"column-californians-sour-on-newsoms-push-to-ban-gas-powered-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/405292\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Californians sour on Newsom’s push to ban gas-powered cars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon leave office without gaining the support of fellow Californians for his most ambitious climate project: the banning of new gas-burning car sales by 2035.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Newsom issued an executive order in 2020<\/a> taking new fossil-fueled passenger vehicles off the California market nine years from now.<\/p>\n

But roughly two-thirds of Californians think that\u2019s a lousy idea, according to a poll released last week by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Among likely voters, 65% oppose the termed-out governor\u2019s edict and just 34% support it. The opposition among infrequent or nonvoters is even stronger.<\/p>\n

Negative attitudes are especially stiff in inland California \u2014 particularly the Central Valley \u2014 and among middle-class people with incomes between $40,000 and $100,000, those over age 55 and Republicans.<\/p>\n

Opposition to being denied new gas vehicles has grown substantially since 2021, when Californians were evenly divided over the issue.<\/p>\n

But the state\u2019s anticipated next governor, moderate Democrat Xavier Becerra, is more in line with Californians\u2019 thinking on gas cars than is Newsom.<\/p>\n

Becerra told me during his primary election campaign that Newsom\u2019s 2035 goal is not realistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t make it by \u201835,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we can make it.\u201d Sometime in the future.<\/p>\n

The fact is lots of people can\u2019t afford electric vehicles because they tend to cost more than cars fueled by gas.<\/p>\n

Besides, there\u2019s an inconvenience of having to pull off the road for a 40-minute recharging stop on a long trip \u2014 if you can find a vacant recharger.<\/p>\n

And \u201celectricity is not cheap. It often depends on the time of day,\u201d notes PPIC Polling Director Mark Baldassare, who owns an electric vehicle and says he likes it.<\/p>\n

Newsom has been hawking electric vehicles since he came into office, like some slick TV pitchman \u2014 his goal being to greatly reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

The governor and the Legislature recently appropriated $135 million to motivate Californians to buy new or used electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

First-time EV buyers will receive $3,500 rebates on vehicles with manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail prices of $50,000 or less. Used car buyers will get $1,750 off if the sale price is $25,000 or less.<\/p>\n

You’re reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter <\/p>\n

George Skelton and Michael Wilner cover the insights, legislation, players and politics you need to know. In your inbox Monday and Thursday mornings. <\/p>\n

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n

Automakers will pay for half the incentive costs \u2014 obstensibly, at least, if they don\u2019t just secretly add their tab to the vehicle price.<\/p>\n

This smacks of a huge taxpayer giveaway to manufacturers if the state isn\u2019t careful. Is it really the state\u2019s job to sell cars? Shouldn\u2019t it be the automakers\u2019 responsibility to offer competitive prices? Whatever.<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s plan partially replaces a $7,500 federal tax incentive for new EVs that President Trump and the Republican-led Congress allowed to expire last year.<\/p>\n

California already leads the nation in EV ownership, with around 1.3 million vehicles registered. That\u2019s more than five times the No. 2 state, Florida. And it\u2019s not just because California\u2019s population is much larger. We also lead in per capita ownership.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of contradiction and hypocrisy in the divided minds of Californians, as highlighted in the lengthy PPIC survey into their views on environmental policies.<\/p>\n

People strongly favor fighting climate change \u2014 at least in concept \u2014 until it adversely affects them directly. That\u2019s just human nature.<\/p>\n

Asked what they consider the most important environmental issue facing California, those surveyed placed wildfires first, followed closely by global warming.<\/p>\n

Baldassare says what struck him in the poll was \u201cthe disconnect between what people support in policies and what they\u2019re prepared to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo things are going on in California now,\u201d the pollster continues. \u201cPeople have their long-standing concerns about the environment. But they also have immediate concerns about affordability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to what people are willing to do, they\u2019re worried about living costs and particularly the cost of energy. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve noticed even more this year. It affects the political and economic landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed support Newsom\u2019s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero \u201cas soon as possible, but no later than 2045.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s overwhelming support for taxing corporations based on the amount of carbon emissions they produce.<\/p>\n

Roughly 60% favor requiring all electricity to be generated with renewable energy \u2014 such as wind and solar \u2014 by 2045, although support for that state edict has dropped by 15 percentage points in the last six years.<\/p>\n

Paradoxically, people aren\u2019t willing to pay more for electricity produced by renewable sources. Roughly 60% reject that idea. Ten years ago, almost that many told PPIC pollsters they were willing to pay extra.<\/p>\n

And today they\u2019re not nearly ready to surrender their option of buying a new gas-fueled automobile.<\/p>\n

For one thing, they\u2019re not convinced there\u2019ll be enough charging stations to handle a lot more EVs. Twice as many people are not confident of that as are confident, the poll found.<\/p>\n

The California Energy Commission reported in January that there were more than 200,000 public and private EV charging stations in the state, plus 800,000 chargers in homes. The state is helping to add more along highways.<\/p>\n

Becerra has pledged to take a fresh look at several controversial Newsom projects, including the pokey bullet train. There\u2019s much uncertainty about the pending new governor.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one pretty good bet: In 2035, sales of new gas cars will still be getting a green light.<\/p>\n

What else you should be reading<\/p>\n

The must-read: Trump escalates election attacks, threatens California over voter data<\/a>
Bringing back competition: Too many congressional races are over before they start. Here\u2019s a remedy<\/a>
The L.A. Times Special: Trump\u2019s voter fraud speech was bait. Stop biting<\/a> <\/p>\n

Until next week,
George Skelton<\/p>\n

\u2014
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here<\/a> to get it in your inbox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon leave office without gaining the support of fellow Californians for his most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2208,7,9,8,2212,2210,2216,2209,2213,418,2220,2221,2219,2218,2211,2217,2214,2215],"class_list":["post-405292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-biden","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-court-pick","tag-essential-politics","tag-first-black-woman","tag-gender","tag-high-court","tag-history","tag-jefferson","tag-media-coverage","tag-nominee","tag-political-criticism","tag-race","tag-stereotypes","tag-supreme-court","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}