There are few more easily observable measures of the cost of everyday living than the price of gasoline at the pump. As has been widely reported, gas prices in the United States recently hit a seven-year high. The striking thing, however, is not just how high gas prices have gotten, but how fast and far they have risen.
Based on statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration—the statistical arm of the Department of Energy—weekly average retail prices for regular unleaded gasoline in the United States increased 94 percent in less than two years. Average gas prices rose from $1.77 per gallon during the week ending April 27, 2020, to $3.44 per gallon during the week ending February 7, 2022—nearly doubling in the process.
That was the largest percentage increase in gas prices within a two-year window since October of 2005, more than 16 years ago. In the election of 2006, Republicans—then the party in power—lost 30 House and six Senate seats, thereby losing control of both chambers, before losing the presidency two years later.
It was to be expected that gas prices should rise above the $1.77 per gallon mark in the spring of 2020, when COVID lockdowns had reduced the demand for gas. During the Biden Administration, however, gas prices have risen far above pre-COVID levels, which were $2.57 per gallon during the week ending December 30, 2019. During the week of Biden’s election, gas cost $2.10 per gallon. During the third week of his presidency (the week ending February 8, 2021), it cost $2.46 per gallon. In the year since then, gas prices have risen 40 percent. Pre-Biden, the last time the price spiked that much in one year’s time was over a decade ago.
amgreatness.com/2022/02/14/gas-price-change-not-climate-change-is-what-matters-to-americans/