Americans faced a nightmare in June 2022: Gas prices spiked above $5 a gallon for the first time ever.
Record-high prices at the pump dealt a financial scare to consumers and created a political wound the Biden-Harris administration has struggled to mend ever since.
But now the situation has reversed. Gas prices, an in-your-face metric that many consumers view as a real-time barometer for the cost of living, are falling fast, just as millions of Americans head to the polls.
Gas is much cheaper in battleground states like Nevada and Arizona than a year ago. And for the first time since 2021, the national average has a real shot at plunging below $3 a gallon in the coming days.
“It looks like a very strong possibility that we’ll fall below $3 a gallon, perhaps in the next 7 to 12 days. There’s a sense of not if, but when,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told CNN in a phone interview.
It’s a crucial trend that undercuts one of the biggest arguments Republicans have used to hammer Democrats over the cost of living.
“$3-a-gallon is a huge psychologically important level. And it shows that we’re finally close to normalizing,” said De Haan.
Of course, the cost of living remains a major issue for millions of Americans. And former President Donald Trump continues to poll better than Vice President Kamala Harris on who voters trust more to handle the economy.
Although gas prices are down and the rate of inflation has cooled sharply, consumers are still hurting from years of price hikes.
The typical US household is spending $1,120 more per month to buy the same goods and services as January 2021 when Biden became president, according to Moody’s Analytics.
However, as Moody’s notes, that sticker shock is offset by the fact that the typical household is also making $1,193 more per month than January 2021.
Falling prices in battleground states
Trump has bragged about how gas prices were below $2 a gallon when he was in the White House.
Indeed, the national average dropped to as low as $1.77 in April 2020. But that was because demand crashed during the pandemic. Very few people could take advantage of the dirt-cheap fuel because of the once-in-a-century health crisis.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, oil prices skyrocketed due to fears of massive supply disruptions. That catapulted prices at the pump to as high as $5.02 a gallon in June 2022.
Now, the national average stands at just $3.13 a gallon, according to AAA. That’s down from $3.50 a gallon at this point last year.
Drivers rolling up to gas stations in some battleground states are enjoying significant price drops, including Nevada (79 cents cheaper than a year ago), Arizona (78 cents cheaper), Pennsylvania (36 cents cheaper) and Wisconsin (32 cents cheaper).