Americans expect fuel costs will keep climbing: Poll

An overwhelming majority of Americans expect oil and gas costs to keep rising amid economic strain sparked by the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, according to a new poll.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Friday, shows that 87 percent of Americans believe gas prices will go higher over the next month, while 11 percent say they think prices will not increase.

This opinion is held across party lines, with most Republicans, Democrats and independents saying they believe gas prices will surge. About 76 percent of Republicans, 98 percent of Democrats and 88 percent of independents see prices going up, according to the survey.

Nearly a quarter of Republican respondents said they do not see gas prices going up, with 2 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents agreeing.

The poll also found that 55 percent of Americans say the Middle East conflict’s impact on gas prices has also impacted their other finances. The survey shows that 21 percent believe the rise in costs impacted their wallet a “great deal,” and 34 percent say the price hike affected them “somewhat.”

Less than half of Americans, at 44 percent, say gas prices have not affected their finances too much or at all. Democrats and independents largely say their finances have been impacted, at 64 percent and 58 percent, respectively, the numbers show.

A smaller portion of Republican voters say the prices have impacted them, with 12 percent noting the rising prices have affected them a “great deal” and 30 percent saying they are only “somewhat” impacted, the poll found.

Many Republicans, 58 percent, say the price increase has affected them “very little” or not at all, while 35 percent of Democrats and 40 percent of independents said the same.

The national average for gas ticked up 3 cents from Thursday to $3.91 as of Friday, according to AAA. Trading for the U.S. price benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude reached over $95 per barrel as of Friday morning. The international benchmark, Brent crude, hit nearly $108 per barrel.

President Trump and several Cabinet members have downplayed the rise in gas prices since the conflict began. The Trump administration has sought to lower prices, including a temporary waiver to the Jones Act, authorizing the restart of drilling off California’s coast and lifting some sanctions on Venezuela and Russia.

Trump also released 172 million barrels of oil from the U.S.’s oil reserve, a tactic he once criticized when done under former President Biden in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey was conducted March 17-19 and included 1,545 respondents. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.