Over half of American voters believe President Joe Biden is intentionally allowing gas prices to skyrocket in order for the people to use less fossil fuel, a Friday poll found.
A Trafalgar Group poll found that 53% of Americans believe the president is intentionally allowing prices to rise in order to make people rely on clean energy, according to the poll. Another 39% countered saying he is not doing so. Over half of Independent voters, 56%, agreed soaring gas prices are the president’s intention, while 37% disagreed.
Nearly one-quarter of Democrats, 24%, believe the president is intentionally allowing prices at the pump to rise, while 68% do not believe he is having any impact. The vast majority of Republicans, 77%, believe the administration wants gas prices to soar, while 12% disagree.
The poll surveyed 1,091 adults between May 25-29 with a 2.9% margin of error.
New @trafalgar_group/@COSProject #poll finds majority of #Americans believe Biden Admin intentionally letting #GasPrices rise to make us use less fossil fuels:
53.0% Yes
39.6% No
7.4% UnsureYes by Party:
24.8% #Dem
77.3% #GOP
56.5% #IndsSee report: https://t.co/mUrkQtjmJ4 pic.twitter.com/zynqU8SGsQ
— The Trafalgar Group (@trafalgar_group) June 10, 2022
The average price of gas exceeded $5 per gallon Thursday after having reached new records for months. The Biden administration has pinned surging prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, dubbing the rising costs as “Putin’s Price Hike.” (RELATED: ‘Happy Being A Customer To Chinese Concentration Camps’: Sen. Ted Cruz Rips Calls To Buy Electric Vehicles)
The administration banned all imports of Russian oil in early March, leading lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to call on the president to lift restrictions on domestic oil production. Biden revoked construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and imposed restrictions on fossil fuel companies, defying court orders to restart a federal leasing program to allow drilling on public lands.
The administration has called on Americans to purchase electric vehicles (EVs) to ease the burden of high gas prices. The average price of an EV was $56,437 in November 2021, according to Kelley Blue Book. The average price jumped 6.2% from the same month in the previous year.
While the cost of an EV is higher than a fuel-based vehicle, it becomes cheaper in the longer term due to less maintenance, Money.com reported. Owners who drive 15,000 miles in their electric car spend roughly $546 on power, while a person would spend $1,255 on a gas-powered car driving the same distance.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News in May that Democrats “want” inflation and high gas prices to pursue their goal of Americans purchasing EVs.
“I think there are people in their party that actually like it,” he continued. “They’re not gonna say it because they don’t want to get crushed in the next election although I believe they will be. But they like the fact that there’s inflation and high prices. They believe the more expensive oil and gas gets, the more people are gonna buy electric cars. Well, not everyone can afford an electric car right now, we don’t have enough electric cars, and the batteries for those electric cars are made in China. Look, these guys, they want this.”