Why Americans May -- Or May Not -- Blame Biden For Higher Gas Prices
When President Biden announced last week that he was banning Russian oil imports to the United States to retaliate against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he conceded that Americans would pay more for gas as a result. “Defending freedom is going to cost,” Biden said. “It’s going to cost us as well.”
But higher prices at the pump and elsewhere aren’t new. For nearly a year now, Americans have faced sharply rising inflation, and the latest numbers were further confirmation of that reality: U.S. prices last month rose 7.9 percent year-over-year, the largest such increase since 1982 and a continuation of a worrying trajectory as the country recovers from the pandemic recession and a beaten-down supply chain.
It’s possible that this trajectory worsens, too, as the global economic outlook has gotten a lot more uncertain following Russia’s invasion late last month. Prices for oil, wheat and other resources have skyrocketed as countries around the world impose harsh sanctions against Russian industries, and U.S. gas prices have ticked all the way up to $4.17 per gallon.
It’s a precarious situation for Biden because inflation and, in particular, higher gas prices — including those spurred by overseas oil crises — have been shown to drag down presidential approval. At the same time, presidents haven’t always experienced lower approval as a result of these conflicts, so it’s possible that, given the situation in Ukraine, Americans won’t blame Biden for higher gas prices as they have blamed past presidents.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-americans-may-or-may-not-blame-biden-for-higher-gas-prices/
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