The price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed 31 cents in the past week, spiking to an average of $4.48 per gallon Tuesday, according to AAA, hitting the wallets of drivers after rising 50% since the war with Iran began.
The main reason drivers are paying more at the pump is because of the global energy crisis caused by the Iran war. The price of crude oil, which is the main ingredient in gasoline, has been climbing for most of the past two months because the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil normally passes, has effectively been shut, and oil tankers have been stranded there unable to deliver crude.
I feel like the current gas situation isn’t as valuable a talking point to Americans as people want it to be. Rent, food, medical care, car cost, etc are all already up by similar percentages or more and Republicans still aren’t rioting. They are delusional cultists.
Republicans are the ones who get hurt by gas prices the most, since they are the ones driving big trucks for no reason.
Also it’s a concrete number they understand because they see it plastered on billboards everywhere. They can conveniently ignore rent because it’s not as “public” of a number.
And more importantly, not their rent.
Winning elections in the US is about mobilizing your base. Very few people actively make a choice to vote Republican or Democrat. Most do between voting or not voting.