Former President Donald Trump has been using gas prices to attack Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a recent email blast, Trump said fuel prices had “soared, making commuting and travel more expensive.” At a rally in Iowa in December, Trump claimed gas prices had soared up to $8 a gallon, which fact-checkers quickly dismissed as false.
The cost of gas has long been a key issue for voters, who — despite global events like war or political instability in oil-rich countries abroad — typically blame high prices on whoever is in the White House. So, it’s a well-rehearsed political maneuver for a challenger to attack an incumbent over the cost of gas.
Despite Trump’s exaggerations, he’s not entirely wrong. Gas prices have risen in recent years. They hit a high of about $4.93 a gallon in mid-2022, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration, which assembles and analyzes data from the US government. That high came just months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year, causing fuel prices to spike.
But, a month before the election, gas prices are falling, upending Trump’s attack strategy. Gas prices have declined steadily for the last five months, in fact, according to the American Automobile Association. Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for AAA, said that trend is likely to continue.
“There are now 10 states with gasoline averages below $3 a gallon, which means thousands of retail outlets east of the Rockies are selling gas at similarly low prices,” Gross said in a press release, which noted that gas demand is low, as is the current cost of oil at about $70 per barrel.
The national average price for a gallon of gas was $3.30, a 6-cent decline from the previous week, AAA said.
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