Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The pain at the gas pump is quickly turning into a political headache for Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans, whose narrow congressional majority looks increasingly fragile ahead of the midterms. Crude oil prices on March 10 were easing off on the dramatic gains recorded one day before, and it remains to be seen where gasoline prices will head in the nearly nine months leading up to the November 3 election.
But even before the Iran war, US voters were already angry about the high cost of living and frustrated that Trump has not done more to address it, Reuters/Ipsos polls show.
Trump in his State of the Union address last week laying out his argument for why voters should keep Republicans in power in November’s midterm elections boasted that falling gasoline prices had solved a “disaster” left behind by his predecessor.
Two weeks later, gas prices have risen by nearly 60 cents a gallon, part of a burgeoning energy crisis that began when Trump and Israel launched air strikes against Iran on February 28 and set off a regional conflict that has expanded well beyond Iran’s borders.
“You can’t hide gas prices,” said Jacob Perry, a Republican strategist. “You can lie about all this other stuff and claim everything is fake news. But there’s a giant sign on every street corner saying how bad things are. Literally every commute to work is a reminder.”
Democrats have promised to put affordability center stage in their campaigns. The party needs to flip only three Republican-held House of Representatives seats to win a majority, though they face a tougher path in the Senate.
Republicans anxious
Some House Republicans, who are huddling in Florida this week at a policy retreat to discuss their legislative agenda, acknowledged that surging gas prices are a worry to voters, but cited Trump’s assertion that the increase would be short-lived. The average gas price nationwide on March 11 was $3.54 a gallon, up about 19% since the war began, according to AAA.
