The Biden administration continues to tout misleading gas prices in their messaging to the American people, using the “most common” price of gas instead of the national average.
President Joe Biden and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre both pushed $3.49 as the “most common” price of gas Monday, while the national average was $3.79, according to the American Automobile Association.
The White House told the Daily Caller that it uses GasBuddy’s analysis of the “most common” price and that “most common price and average price are different.”
The national average is currently higher than the “most common” price “because the national average has been ‘pulled up’ by regions that experienced refinery outages and skyrocketing prices in September,” the Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, Patrick De Haan, told the Caller.
Prices at the pump are down for the second week in a row. And the most common price in the U.S. is back down to $3.49 a gallon.
Folks, we’re moving in the right direction.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 25, 2022
While using the “most common” price of gas is accurate, it is misleading, as it does not account for what the average American is paying at the pump. Only 15 states had average prices at or below $3.49 a gallon on Monday, with California having the highest average of $5.75, according to AAA.
Most of the states with prices below $3.49 on Monday were located in the South, including Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, according to AAA.
Jean-Pierre echoed Biden’s use of the “most common” price metric, saying at a press briefing on Monday that “the most common price at gas stations across the country is now $3.49 per gallon” according to an “industry analyst.” (RELATED: White House Misleads Americans With Claim About Gas Prices)
Twitter users jumped on the new data, pushing the $3.49 price while praising the Biden administration.
“Gas remains nearly $1.40 higher than when Biden took office because of Democrats’ war on American energy. Using misleading numbers to lie about gas prices underscores how disconnected from reality Biden and Democrats are from the pain Americans feel at the pump every day,” RNC spokesperson Will O’Grady told the Caller in a statement.