Gas Hit $4.12 a Gallon on Election Day, the Highest National Average Ever Recorded for a Vote

Americans paid an average of $4.12 a gallon for gasoline as they voted Tuesday, the highest national average ever recorded on an Election Day, according to GasBuddy.

Diesel averaged $6.28 a gallon, also an Election Day record, GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said in posts on X.

Gasoline was $1.07 a gallon higher than a year earlier, while diesel was up $2.59, De Haan said. By state, gas prices were 58 cents to $1.44 higher than last year.

AAA put the national average at $4.14 on Nov. 3, USA Today reported. That beat the first week of November in every election year back to 1994, according to Energy Information Administration data.

De Haan said the $4.12 price was the largest jump from one election to the next on record, up $1.03 a gallon from the 2024 presidential vote.

Prices Rose When They Usually Fall

Gas prices normally decline in the fall as demand eases and stations switch to cheaper winter blends. De Haan said only one of the last 10 elections since 2006 saw prices rise in the 30 days before the vote.

This year was also one of only three election years in which gas cost more than it did 90 days earlier, up 6 cents, according to De Haan.

The gap between diesel and gasoline reached a record $2.15 a gallon, he said. Diesel powers most trucking and farm equipment, so higher prices can ripple into the cost of goods.

The national average has been above $4 a gallon since April, according to AAA data cited by USA Today. Prices have been driven by the war with Iran and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.

De Haan wrote in a Nov. 2 blog post that prices had eased slightly ahead of the vote. “Average gasoline prices fell in nearly every state over the last week,” he wrote.

“Whether new attacks occur or a truce takes hold around the Strait of Hormuz, along with continued Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, will likely dictate where prices head as we move closer to the holidays,” De Haan added.

President Donald Trump told voters at a Nov. 1 rally in Iowa that relief was coming. “By the way, when that war ends, you’re gonna see gasoline coming down,” he said.

Polling showed the issue weighing on the White House. An Oct. 8 Navigator Research poll cited by USA Today found 76% of registered voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of gas prices, while 20% approved.

Democrats went on to win control of both the House and Senate, Reuters reported. De Haan also debunked a common claim that prices are pushed down in swing states before elections.

Since 2006, battleground state prices fell an average of 21 cents in the 30 days before Election Day, compared with 28 cents in safe states, De Haan said. Swing states actually fell the least.

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