I think the answer to the political debate is about numbers. More potential voters are car drivers and don’t like traffic jams. The irony being if more were cyclists there would be less jams but that’s not going to sway the ignorant masses.
We have an organisation really pushing for better cycling/public transport where I live. The local rag ran an article about an improvement to the cycle infrastructure resulting in a contraflow along a main road for a fortnight while works were undertaken. The comments are all similar to the example below:
It is pointless complaining, the imbeciles in the road planning dept, are obsessed with turning Lincoln into a car free zone, they seem to think this is Amsterdam where cyclists rule the roads. Had the money wasted on unused cycleways been spent on over used congested road systems, we may achieve something, until then chaos will remain.
To the vast majority of the people commenting the idea of riding a bike hasn’t even crossed their mind, what with all the danger and disruption to their day it would cause.
I commute on said road and its 10 minutes faster by bike than car to cover 4 miles and I am still alive (just)