Trump Pushes Fuel Prices to Painful Labor Day Record

Americans heading out for Labor Day weekend are being hit with a record-breaking bill at the pump.

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According to AAA, gasoline averaged $4.14 a gallon at the beginning of the holiday weekend.

The price is nearly a dollar higher than it was at this time last year and has blown past the previous holiday record of $3.82, set in 2012.

The price of gas has shot up since Trump began his deeply unpopular war with Iran in February.

A key flashpoint is the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route through which huge volumes of oil normally move. Traffic through the waterway has plunged during the conflict, choking supplies and keeping pressure on fuel prices.

Diesel is in even worse territory. The national average hit a record $5.85 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has acknowledged prices are higher, but said the administration is trying to lower them.

“Yes, they’re higher today, but we’re doing everything we can to push them down,” Wright said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.

He claimed that the markets point to cheaper gasoline in the months ahead.

“If you look at the futures prices, if you wanted to buy today in bulk gasoline for two months out in November, it’s about $0.35 cheaper than it is today. So the marketplace thinks gasoline prices are going to move meaningfully lower,” he said.

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But any expected drop in fuel costs comes as Trump faces a growing political problem: his handling of the war with Iran has coincided with a sharp deterioration in his standing with voters, while economic concerns continue to dominate the political landscape.

For millions of Americans, the squeeze is being felt in everyday spending, as higher energy and other household costs put pressure on family budgets.

The fallout is showing up clearly in the polling. A new Financial Times/Focaldata survey found that only 33 percent of registered voters approve of Trump’s performance, his lowest rating in the FT poll to date.

The timing is particularly significant with the November midterms approaching.

So far, polls have put the Democrats ahead. The FT poll showed Democrats now hold a 7.5-point lead over Republicans among registered voters asked which party they are likely to support in November, up from five points just one month ago.

That means it is unlikely Trump’s party will retain its control of the House and Senate.

Democratic strategist James Carville has argued that the shift reflects a broader change among Trump’s own voters, saying the president is losing the grip he once had on the electorate.

“It’s so hard after being so obsessed with Trump for so long for the last 10 years; it’s just been Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump—the country is starting to turn away from him,” Carville said last month.