Dem
47
GOP
53
The Strait of Hormuz is still basically closed, despite Donald Trump's claims to the contrary. Oil reserves around the world, and in particular in the U.S., are depleted. We are in the middle of summer, which means more travel, and more gas used during that travel due to cars' air conditioning. And yet, gas prices have not reached frightening levels, the way they did in the 1970s.
We have no ability to forecast petroleum futures. Truth be told, having paid pretty close attention to this subject for the past few months, we're not sure the "experts" in petroleum futures have that ability, either. But what we do know is this: The national average is currently over $4/gallon. That is the first time that has ever been true this late in the calendar year.
Obviously, that factoid comes with an "inflation" caveat—you really shouldn't directly compare 2026 prices to, say, 1976 prices because the 1976 equivalent of four 2026 dollars is about seventy-five cents. Still, the human mind does have a tendency to remember and fixate upon numbers that are round (like $4.00) and/or that are novel ("I've never paid four bucks a gallon for gas before!"). Also, if gas spikes in January of an election year for some reason, memory of that may fade by November. But the closer that November gets, the more likely the memory is to linger. Note that we are now 82 days from Election Day. (Z)