Democrats and Republicans may be experiencing this year's gas pump pain differently, a real-life, unintentional impact of the self-sorting that has come to define modern American politics.
WASHINGTON — As Thanksgiving and Christmas near, it's not uncommon for consumers to grouse about gas prices. It's as much a holiday tradition as Hallmark movies. But this year, the story is a little different. The last 12 months have seen a spike in gasoline prices as life has returned to something closer to a pre-Covid norm and travel picks up.
That is not the highest price ever for a gallon of gas. In fact, adjusting for inflation, it’s not even close. But, as it so often is with the economy, it's a perception that matters to voters and right now a lot of voters perceive the prices as sky-high. That’s especially true compared to last year when prices were artificially low due to the reduced travel that came with the pandemic’s first year.
The two exceptions are New Mexico, which is a rare heavily rural state that tends to vote Democratic, and Georgia, which President Joe Biden won by only a hair. And beyond the higher amounts of driving in Republican states, there is the matter of the fuel efficiency of the vehicles of choice. Americans may love pickup trucks, but they don’t all love them equally. There is a heavy red tinge to the states where pickup trucks make up the biggest percentage of new vehicle sales, according to data from Experian.