New York [US], September 21: Quinten Martinez, pumping gas under a hot South Texas sun, remembers a time when fueling up didn't require difficult decisions.
"Is it going to be groceries this week?" asked the 28-year-old Amazon delivery driver as he watched the numbers tick higher. "Is it gonna be getting gas in our tank to go to work?" He shook his head when asked about President Donald Trump's assertion last week that higher gas prices are a small price to pay for the war with Iran.
"I don't feel like it's a good trade-off," Martinez said. "I don't feel like this is good for anyone." Voters across the country, and across the political spectrum, tend to agree.
Interviews with voters in several states, along with a fresh round of national polling, reveal an overwhelming sense of frustration that skyrocketing gas prices - a direct result of Trump's warare creating serious and sustained financial hardships for America's working class. The acute concerns are adding to a bad political environment that may be worsening for Trump and his Republican Party as early voting gets underway in the November midterm elections.
Historically, the party holding the White House has suffered major losses in midterms. Today, seven weeks before Election Day, Republican candidates at all levels are struggling with the additional burden of Trump's weak approval ratings, an unpopular foreign conflict and an affordability crisis that Trump and his congressional allies had promised to fix. But when Trump campaigned in North Carolina on Wednesday, he played down the impact of surging gas prices.
"You have a little higher. It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done," Trump said of the war, which he describes as critical to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "Remember that. It's a little more. Frankly, even if it was a lot more." Despite what Trump says, there are few things that may matter more this election year than the price of a gallon of gasoline, according to political operatives in both parties.
Gas prices are moving sharply in the wrong direction at a time of year when drivers typically get some relief. The national average for a gallon of gas reached $4.48 on Friday, according to AAA, up roughly 17 cents over the last week, 40 cents in a month and $1.27 from a year ago. "Gas prices matter because they're one of the few economic indicators voters experience and see in real time," said veteran Republican strategist Chris Wilson. "The price is literally staring them in the face several times a week. So I wouldn't minimize the frustration we're seeing, particularly among working- and middle-class voters." Interviews with voters this week found bipartisan frustration and disappointment.
Democrats and independents were especially motivated to punish Republicans at the ballot box for their economic hardship, while some of Trump's working-class supporters pledged to support Republicans this fall, even if they weren't happy with the president's leadership on the economy. Dan Lloyd, who voted for Trump, lamented the president's leadership as the 63-year-old carpenter paid $4.39 a gallon to fill up his pickup truck in Mesa, Arizona.
"He hurt himself stepping into this," Lloyd said of Trump. "Where's all this oil from Venezuela? I thought we were flush with gas and everything, but no. The American people eat it every time, whether it's interest rates, food, gasoline." Still, he expects to vote Republican in the midterms.
"I think the Democratic Party has lost its way," Lloyd said. "I just feel like the whole system's on the verge of collapse." In sweltering Edinburg, Texas, 52-year-old Kristin Jimenez shrugged off the rising price of gas after filling up her Mercedes.
"We've paid the same price under Republican presidents, we've paid this price under Democrat presidents," said Jimenez, a mother who runs a small business. She plans to vote for a Republican in because they're the "lesser of two evils." She said gas prices aren't part of her calculation.
"We don't mind paying $8 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but we have a problem paying four bucks at the pump?" she said. "Make it make sense." More than 1,500 miles to the north in central Michigan, 35-year-old Garth Johnson is trying to make ends meet running a deep-cleaning business with several gas-powered vehicles and one machine fueled by diesel, which was $6.79 a gallon as he filled up his SUV. Johnson voted for Trump, but doesn't know what he's going to do in November. Johnson doesn't feel qualified to second-guess the president's evaluation of the war, but he's feeling financial pressure in his own life."I like a lot of the things he's done," Johnson said, but added "I'm a little guy and I've got to live my life." Midterm voting was already underway on Friday in Virginia, where 60-year-old engineer Alan Johnson said Trump seems to have "no empathy" for Americans who are struggling financially.
"With the gas prices being what they are and continuing to grow, we've got to do something. Hopefully the Democrats can get into office and turn the ship around," said Johnson, who cast ballots in the morning for Democrats for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, teacher Brittney Bivins sees surging gas prices as evidence that Trump and his Republican Party aren't dealing with the issues that matter most to people like her.
"He really doesn't care about everyday people," the 45-year-old said. "He can afford the gas, but most of us can't. So it feels like he's not even connected to his own people." Bivins, who described herself as an independent, said she's eager to support Democrats this fallespecially the party's emerging democratic socialist wing.
Source: Qatar Tribune
