A total of 83% of likely U.S. voters are concerned about the high gasoline and home heating fuel prices, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports nationwide survey.
“With the midterm elections less than three weeks away, most voters are still worried about high gasoline prices and give President Joe Biden low marks for his energy policy,” Rasmussen Reports said, commenting on the poll, which was conducted before the U.S. Administration’s announcement of more releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The Department of Energy will release another 15 million barrels from the SPR, extending the previously announced release through the month of December, President Biden said on Wednesday.
The Rasmussen Reports survey also found that 82% of likely voters believe that President Biden’s energy policy would be important in the November 8 mid-term election.
According to the poll, 46% say President Biden has done a poor job in energy policy, and 38% deem the policy good or excellent. Among likely Republican voters, 72% say Biden has done a poor job of handling energy policy, compared to 20% who rate his job in the sector as excellent or good.
As the mid-term elections approach, the Biden Administration is desperate to bring gasoline prices further down, but it has been blindsided by the massive oil production cut from November the OPEC+ group announced early this month, which could send fuel prices rising again.
But U.S. gasoline prices have been down this week compared to last week.
As of October 20, the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.836, down from a week ago, but up from $3.674/gal from a month ago, per AAA data. Still, gasoline prices are well below the $5.016 a gallon national record from June this year.
According to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, gasoline prices in all U.S. regions are expected to drop over the next 14 days. The West Coast and the Great Lakes will continue to see the most relief, while others are expected to see slight downward trends, for now, De Haan said on Thursday.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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