On September 5, 2024 during a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump said, “Energy is going to bring us back. That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below $2 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, airfares, and housing costs.”
Enough voters believed these promises to carry Trump back into the White House.
On July 24, 2026, the national average cost of a gallon of gas is $4.10. Trump has more than doubled the price that he promised, and he did it with a war of choice in Iran. Trump doesn’t have a clue as to how to end the war that he started, so he is expanding the war in the hopes of ending it.
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This expanded war has meant more oil blockades, which have raised the price of gasoline. Gas prices are rising at the same time that this administration has wiped out clean energy grants and programs.
An election that was expected to be about the economy and inflation is increasingly being summed up in the minds of voters as gas prices.
Gas prices are a microeconomic issue that impacts every American in some way. It is also an issue that gets very personally noticed every time the gas tank has to be filled up for work, school, errands, or travel.
It is also becoming a big issue in the midterm election.