48% of Americans blame Trump for high gas prices — more than any other factor

With gas prices surging, the White House is being held directly responsible for a global oil shock—testing how executive power is judged through public blame rather than formal accountability.

Executive

Mar 12, 2026

Sources

https://www.axios.com/2026/03/12/gas-prices-iran-trump

Summary

A flash poll found 48% of Americans blame President Trump and his administration for current high gas prices as prices rose more than 20% over the past month and increased for 11 straight days. The White House is absorbing direct public accountability for price volatility tied to international conflict, turning a macroeconomic shock into a measure of executive performance. The practical consequence is heightened political pressure on federal energy and economic messaging as rising fuel costs threaten broader U.S. economic growth.

Reality Check

Democratic danger rises when public blame replaces institutional accountability, because it trains our politics to treat price swings as proof of executive virtue or failure rather than a policy record. Here, the central shift is not legal power but civic expectation: we begin evaluating governance through personalized attribution that can be exploited by messaging instead of oversight. When the public is conditioned to assign broad economic outcomes to a single office, it weakens demand for transparent, specific decisions and the checks that ensure those decisions serve the country.

Detail

Flash polling conducted Wednesday night by Morning Consult and shared with Axios found that 74% of Americans say gas prices have increased this year.When asked who is most responsible for current gas prices, 48% identified the president and his administration.AAA data cited in the report shows gas prices have risen for the past 11 days and are up more than 20% on average for a gallon of regular compared with last month.The report attributes the spike in oil prices to a war and notes the increase is becoming a political liability for the White House and is threatening U.S. economic growth.The administration said prices will fall once the conflict subsides. President Trump posted Thursday morning: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”