I mean, Trump ran on keeping prices in general low, and I think MAGA is particularly sensitive to gas prices. Will gas at 5 bucks a gallon, or even higher, cause many of even them to abandon support for him? Is there any price at which they’ll come around to “I didn’t vote for THIS”?
It will hurt the Republicans in the mid-terms if gas prices shoot up. Especially as that will then likely also affect food prices.
In a way, this would be a positive side-effect of this unlawful action. The voters that can be swayed won’t care much about the action of attacking Iran, but they’ll care about gas & food costing more.
It is the common belief and I found one paper supporting it already that conservative voters, including MAGA are more likely to drive less efficient vehicles.
My observation is MAGA voters are far more likely to do so.
Link to PDF:
So gas prices should affect them more.
I can never prove it, but I’m convinced US refiners manipulate the price of gas to favor Republicans just prior to every national election.
I believe the same, but just my observation and no proof or stats to back this one up.
This year is likely to be different though. Either crude oil prices will be up a significant amount which will hurt Republicans in November and help the environment somewhat or they won’t which is better short-term for poorer people and world stability.
Answer to the thread question is of course — more Democratic seats in Congress next year.
Since Trump rules by decree, I doubt this will be as helpful as some of my fellow Democrats think.
Timing matters. Prices could shoot up for a few months and then go down.
One thing to remember here is that the US is significantly more self-sufficient in its oil supplies than it was in the 1970s and during the oil crisis of 1973. So despite Trump’s inept bungling in the Middle East and the unintended consequences that will surely result, a big jump in gas prices probably won’t be one of them.
That’s true, but part of the voting public will be upset even by a 30 cent jump.
This means that closing of the Straits of Hormuz won’t cause oil shortages and gas lines in the U.S. But the thread is about prices. Do Americans not pay world oil prices?
I’m not making a claim, but really asking a question.
Considering how many of them will blindly accept Trump’s word when he says “look at what the radical left is doing to the gas prices. This is what they want, it’s all part of their illegal plan to interfere with the election”, I think the price has to get fairy high before they’ll actually start blaming Trump.
Indeed. Oil is priced at a global market rate. Unless the oil corporations are so cowed/bullied by you-know-who as to forego profits of their US branches to make him look good until November, there will be visible effects at the pump if there’s a significant rise more than a passing spike.
Valid point. There won’t be gas shortages, but if global oil prices go up, domestic producers will follow suit based on the time-honoured capitalist principle “because we can”. Unless Trump threatens them, which he surely would.
ETA: Exact simul-posting with @JRDelirious – got ninja’d by about a second! 
The organizer of my tennis league has posted that those “freaking out about gas prices need to put on their big boy pants and support our men on the front lines.”
I do not think a large proportion of Trump supporters would be in the least bothered by $7/gallon gas. They will figure out that it is Biden’s (or Newsom’s) fault very quickly.
No, I think it’s amazing how fast political allegiance slips away when it starts affecting the ol’ wallet. Especially because, as already noted, I’d expect most MAGA types to be driving obnoxiously oversized gas-guzzlers, most commonly gigantic pickups.
It’s useful to think of the typical Republican voter as having a one-track mind, and where that track leads is determined entirely by how it affects their personal economic situation. For such a voter, the all-important metric is “the price of X”, where “X” can be anything. Usually, “X” must be as low as possible, unless they’re a homeowner and “X” is the cost of housing, in which case it must be as high as possible and screw all the first-time home buyers!
Gas prices in southern Illinois jumped 50 cents/gal. overnight.
Ah, right - many of these people were angry at “Biden prices” because there was nothing they could see and understand causing the late-Trump45/early-Biden inflation. Covid supply chain disruptions and trillion$ economy pumping? That’s Greek to them. WAR, though… THAT they think they understand. We’ll pay any price, bear any burden, to be seen as the big manly asskickers.
Damn, oil itself is only up 6.7%, how long does that take to get to the pumps.
There should be regulations against crap like that.
NJ only went up a few pennies, much more reasonable.
off- topic, hidden
Points at MAGA response to COVID
They don’t even care about their own lives; I wouldn’t assume that they care about their wallets all that much if they can blame “those people” and consider it the price for hurting everyone else.
What’s the line? Something like “America is full of millions of people who will be willingly reduced to living under a bridge eating a squirrel off a stick, if it means the people they hate don’t have a squirrel or a stick.”
Moderating
Not really on topic is this? Stay on topic please.
I’m not seeing support for your statement from AAA, but they don’t break it down by region of a state.