Americans Blame Biden for Rising Gas Prices

More than half of Americans who feel that gas prices have risen recently blame the U.S. government for the increase, according to a survey for Newsweek.

Fifty-five percent of those polled by Redfield & Wilton Strategies who said they had seen a price rise in their local area said it was "primarily caused" by government mismanagement, rather than global events.

Overall, 38 percent of those questioned in the poll, which was conducted on January 18 among 1,500 eligible U.S. voters, said that gas prices had risen in their area recently. Thirty-three percent said they were about the same, 23 percent said they had fallen, and the rest did not know.

The results reflect the Biden administration's difficulties in convincing voters to have trust in its handling of the economy, and gas prices in particular, though the picture is complex.

In fact, gas prices are falling across the country when compared with recent years. At about $3.3 per gallon in December, average national gas prices were at their lowest since September 2021, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, data from AAA showed that gas was about $3.09 per gallon as of January 18. This was a slight two-cent increase from the previous week on the back of wintry conditions possibly pushing up prices.

"If June and July are when we typically see the highest gas prices, then December and January are when we see the lows. And this pattern is holding firm," Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, said in a statement. "The national average for gas will probably maintain this slow shuffle higher for the next week or two."

However, asked to what extent the Biden administration was responsible for lower gas prices, 36 percent of those who said prices were falling said "not at all," 24 percent said "slightly," 23 percent said "fairly," and 17 percent said "significantly."

Newsweek contacted the White House for comment on the poll's results on Monday morning.

The results did vary widely depending on political affiliation. Of those who felt gas prices in their local area had risen recently, 50 percent had voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, while 29 percent had voted for Joe Biden.

Of those who said prices were rising, 67 percent of Trump voters blamed mismanagement by the U.S. government, compared with 35 percent of Biden voters.

Polls have been showing that Americans feel sour about the economy. A December survey from Gallup found that 45 percent feel current economic conditions are poor with 22 percent saying they are either good or excellent. Although, that figure had dropped from November's results when 50 of those surveyed thought the economic conditions were poor.

But economists say that despite an environment of high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to tackle soaring inflation, which experts expected to slow down the economy, the jobs market has held up with employers still hiring and wages have gone up amid elevated borrowing costs.

Last week, another survey that tracks consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan showed that Americans are feeling slightly better about the economy than they did a few months ago.

Confident feelings about the economy, which jumped 13 percent in January from the previous month, was broad-based across age, income, education, geography and even political affiliation. Democrats and Republicans showed their most favorable readings since the summer of 2021, the University of Michigan's consumer survey showed on Friday.

Update, 01/23/24, 6:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional polling information.