Gas Falls Below $4 a Gallon for First Time Since August, but GasBuddy Calls the Election Link a Myth
The national average price of gasoline fell to $3.96 a gallon Monday, dipping below $4 for the first time since early August, according to GasBuddy data.
The average dropped 15.9 cents over the past week and is down 39.3 cents from a month ago. It still stands 92.2 cents higher than a year ago, GasBuddy said.
“Gasoline prices fell in every state over the last week, while diesel declined in nearly every state,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in comments reported by WKYC.
De Haan pushed back on claims spreading online that pump prices were held high until voters went to the polls. “Many will assume the election had something to do with it, but that’s a myth,” he said.
He noted that gas prices have fallen in the 30 days before the election every year since 2006 except 2010, as refiners finish maintenance and ramp up output just as demand fades with cooler weather.
“Those same forces, along with more oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, are why prices could stay below $4 in the weeks ahead,” De Haan said.
He added that the election’s outcome “may send a message to Washington to sharpen its focus on affordability,” but said “it’s the seasonal shift, not politics, driving the relief at the pump.”
A week earlier, GasBuddy’s national average stood at $4.12 after a 17.1-cent weekly drop, the company reported Nov. 2, when De Haan warned that “volatility could return quickly after the election.”
AAA Average Still Just Above $4
AAA, which uses a separate survey, put the national average at $4.02 on Sunday, down 15 cents from a week earlier and its lowest level since July, the auto club reported.
The AAA average has stayed above $4 since July 20, which the group called “one of the longest stretches of elevated gas prices on record.” A year ago, drivers paid $3.07, AAA data show.
Relief is showing up in local markets. Iowa’s average fell 15.7 cents in a week to $3.86, GasBuddy figures reported by CBS2 Iowa show, while prices at individual stations there ranged from $3.28 to $5.09.
In Northeast Ohio, the average in Akron fell 36.5 cents to $3.80, and Cleveland’s dropped 33 cents to $3.87, WKYC reported, citing GasBuddy.
Georgia drivers were paying $3.48 on average with the state’s temporary motor fuel tax suspension in effect through Nov. 30, AAA said. Florida averaged about $3.80, according to AAA.
Diesel remains far more expensive. The national average fell 9.5 cents in a week to $6.186 a gallon, GasBuddy said.
Crude kept sliding early Monday. Brent fell 0.69% to $97.64 a barrel and U.S. crude dipped 0.39% to $90.48 after President Donald Trump said further strikes on Iran were “highly unlikely,” TipRanks reported.
“Market conditions can change quickly, and today’s lower prices may not hold through the holiday period,” AAA cautioned as Thanksgiving travel approaches.
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