# Biden's strange gas-price claims **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945 "2022-10-29T01:21:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/1 "2022-10-29T01:21:09Z")
Per [this CNN story](https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/28/politics/fact-check-biden-gas-prices/index.html), here’s a curious quote from a speech Biden gave yesterday: “Today, the most common price of gas in America is $3.39 – down from over $5 when I took office.” I’m unable to work out what might be going on here. It looks like a prepared statement. Is there any chance he actually believes this? Is there some way to spin this into a sensible statement? Does he somehow imagine that spouting nonsense like this helps him, or the candidates for whom he’s campaigning? Is it yet more evidence of senescence? Whatever the explanation, ten days before an important election he’s giving aid and comfort to his political enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/2 "2022-10-29T01:39:11Z")
Believes these numbers? I don’t understand what you’re querying. Believes that his administration caused the price drop? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/3 "2022-10-29T01:46:46Z")
His administration has been accused of causing the price _increase_ so… ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/4 "2022-10-29T02:00:23Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > Whatever the explanation, ten days before an important election he’s giving aid and comfort to his political enemies Thanks for your concern. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/5 "2022-10-29T02:03:35Z")
According to AAA, the current average (regular grade) gas price in the US is $3.76. [https://gasprices.aaa.com/](https://gasprices.aaa.com/) But the gas price a year ago was $3.40 (technically $3.399) which is what he’s claiming it is now. I wonder is he’s just working from bad info. (Or maybe he figures, everyone lies about what I’m doing wrong, I’ll just lie about what I’m doing right.) It did get above $5 in June of this year, but that wasn’t the price when he took office. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/6 "2022-10-29T02:06:50Z")
Biden misspoke. I am glad my Republican friends are suddenly so concerned about presidents saying things that are easily proven not so. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/7 "2022-10-29T02:24:14Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Biden misspoke. I forgot that possibility. He has always been prone to gaffes, since his political career began. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/8 "2022-10-29T03:23:28Z")
It appears to have been a prepared speech, not an off the cuff comment. Did the White House speechwriter(s) misspeak? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/9 "2022-10-29T03:56:29Z")
So let’s see. What is another explanation than misstatement? That Biden could claim prices were $5.00 a gallon and everyone would just accept or mis-remember it as fact? Then what? Just curious about all this. Cause we know how a certain former president might do it. If we use the Trump template, can we expect Biden to double down and call the people who correct him fake news? Can we expect Biden to repeat this claim over and over again at rally after rally? Do we expect Democratic voters to parrot this claim and repeat it? Do we expect a majority of Democrats to thus believe gas prices were indeed $5.00 a gallon in January 2021 despite clear evidence to the contrary? Or is the best explanation a simple gaffe? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/10 "2022-10-29T04:14:48Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Or is the best explanation a simple gaffe? Not really. Do you really think that the speechwriter meant to say $2.39, but wrote “over $5”? How did that bit of misinformation get into the written speech? Nobody at the White House bothered to check? President Biden referring to the Vice-President as “President Harris” is a gaffe. $2.39 vs over $5.00 is not. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/11 "2022-10-29T04:24:17Z")
Gas in our little podunk unincorporated area is 3.78. Gas is always around ten cents cheaper in town. Gas in Camp Verde is even cheaper, but I’m not willing to go that far. Gas in Tucson are much lower so I can see how things average out. I just checked Tucson’s prices, 3.39 average. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/12 "2022-10-29T04:27:51Z")
It’s clearly incorrect, and obviously so if one was paying attention. What happened there, I don’t know. Hell, CNN is calling him out on it (which I don’t remember FOX doing much of when it came to the former administration’s false claims.) I did see gas here for $3.94/gallon just barely outside Chicago. First time under four bucks a gallon in gosh knows how long. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/13 "2022-10-29T04:40:51Z")
I get that is your opinion, D\_Anconia. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days. Maybe we will see a picture of an actual January 2021 gas station sign with $5.00/gallon written over the real price using a black sharpie? Perhaps Biden will give voice to a mysterious operative using a cryptic single high-scrabble score letter to preach gas price misinformation that Biden can use to claim as a basis for his statement? Or maybe Biden will say something even more absurd about alternative energy powering our low-flush toilets and weak showers.Anyway, it is just good to know how the critics of the Biden misstatements will step forward to hold their own politicians to the same high standards of independant verifiable truth. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/14 "2022-10-29T04:56:52Z")
Alternatively, the Administration needs better speechwriters, ones that have at least a passing acquaintance with facts. It wasn’t a glib response to a question shouted by a reporter while he was boarding Air Force One, or on the White House lawn during the Easter Egg Roll. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/15 "2022-10-29T05:43:59Z")
In theory, he could have been meaning that the mode of gas prices is $3.39. But–even though the mode, mean, and median can sometimes all be different–that seems quite unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/16 "2022-10-29T13:56:24Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Gas in our little podunk unincorporated area is 3.78. Gas is always around ten cents cheaper in town. Gas in Camp Verde is even cheaper, but I’m not willing to go that far. Really? I was always assured the price was the same as in town. 😜 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/17 "2022-10-29T14:28:18Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > > [@JaneDoe42](#): > > > > Gas in our little podunk unincorporated area is 3.78. Gas is always around ten cents cheaper in town. Gas in Camp Verde is even cheaper, but I’m not willing to go that far. > > Really? I was always assured the price was the same as in town. - > 😜 That only applies if the price is $20. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/18 "2022-10-29T18:28:19Z")
Given that the cheapest gas in my town is $5.19, the rest of y’all can go piss up a rope. 😛 Biden’s researcher was obviously using California and Texas as their base point and arguing like a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/19 "2022-11-07T00:33:23Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > In theory, he could have been meaning that the mode of gas prices is $3.39. > > But–even though the mode, mean, and median can sometimes all be different–that seems quite unlikely. Maybe my theory wasn’t so far-fetched after all. [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3722295-twitter-users-flag-biden-tweet-on-gas-prices/](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3722295-twitter-users-flag-biden-tweet-on-gas-prices/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945/20 "2022-11-07T01:14:46Z")
I mean, the mode is a totally useless statistic, and I’m not even sure where one would find sufficient data to be able to determine it, but he DID say “the most common price”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-strange-gas-price-claims/973945.md?page=2)