By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) – Rising gasoline prices are already starting to bite U.S. household finances and Americans overwhelmingly expect fuel costs will keep climbing as President Donald Trump’s war with Iran crimps global oil supplies, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Some 55% of respondents in the Tuesday-through-Thursday poll said their household finances had taken at least “somewhat” of a hit from the increases in gas prices. Among those seeing an impact, 21% said their finances were affected “a great deal.”
The average price of gasoline in America has surged by nearly a dollar per gallon since February 28 when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, prompting Iranian counterstrikes on the energy installations of U.S. allies and the effective closure by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-fifth of the global oil supply.
The economic risk is so dire that the Trump administration has mulled deploying thousands of additional U.S. troops to ensure safe passage of oil tankers through the strait, an endeavor some officials have warned might require deploying U.S. troops to Iran’s shoreline.
AMERICANS EXPECT GAS TO RISE
Some 87% of Americans consider it likely that gas prices will rise further over the coming month. The poll found that most Americans also expect the U.S. will deploy U.S. troops for large-scale ground operations in Iran, though few support the idea.
Trump returned to office last year promising to fix years of high inflation and ignite an economic boom. He spent much of the last year asserting he had done this, saying last month the country was living in a “golden age.” Even before the war, few Americans agreed.
Trump on Thursday appeared to acknowledge his role in the surging costs, saying, “The economy was great … We had great everything. And I saw what was happening in Iran and I said, ‘I hate to make this excursion, but we’re going to have to do it.'”
The surge could hurt Republicans’ chances of defending their slim majorities in Congress in this year’s midterm elections. Respondents to the poll said that the cost of living would be the top issue influencing their vote in November.
DISAPPROVAL ON COST OF LIVING
Some 63% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the cost of living in the U.S., up from 41% shortly after he returned to the White House. His approval rate on the issue, at 29%, has fallen from 35% in the first days of his administration.
Trump’s polling on the cost of living has been a persistent vulnerability since he returned to the White House, as he has enacted steep tariffs on imports that have increased prices of consumer goods.
Only 35% of respondents in the poll said Trump was doing a good job on the U.S. economy.
The survey, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,545 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; editing by Scott Malone and Stephen Coates)
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