ATLANTA — We are in the thick of high gas prices for the summer travel season.
According to GasBuddy, metro Atlanta is averaging about $3.46 per gallon of unleaded gasoline. That’s about 13 cents higher than a month ago, and 25 cents higher than a year ago.
When the prices are up, a lot of people start asking why and looking for a place to blame. Something our VERIFY team is asked frequently is: What role politics and politicians play in how much you pay at the pump?
THE QUESTION
Do gas prices go down during the election season?
SOURCES
Patrick De Haan, Head of petroleum analysis, GasBuddy
THE ANSWER
Yes, gas prices do go down during the election season, but it has more to do with the demand from drivers rather than politics.
WHAT WE FOUND
During the last midterm election campaigns in 2022, we saw democratic candidates praising gas price declines. This came after oil prices trended down following initial reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the declines, are something we’ve seen consistently over the years.
This graph from GasBuddy shows the Atlanta gas price trends for the past three years.
In 2021, it shows a dip in prices starting in the late Fall, which continued until the start of 2022.
Then, we saw the extremely high prices, tied to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And then came the deep decline towards the end of summer and into November and December.
Something else that happened during that time, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp first signed the gas tax exemption into law in September 2022. That saved Georgians about 30 cents per gallon.
In 2023, there was a similar drop in average gas prices per gallon. While there is a consistent trend of gas prices dropping in the fall, Head of Petroleum Analysis, Patrick De Haan said it’s not about the politics, it’s about the season.
“It's 0% about the election. If you put the election in the spring, gas prices would almost always be going up. But with the election in the fall, we kind of get that natural reprieve,” said De Haan.
De Haan went onto to explain there are two main reason the prices actually decline.
“As we get closer to the fall, temperatures start cooling off and Americans aren't driving as much. Demand goes down. And by later this year, ahead of the election, we're going to be switching back to cheaper winter gasoline,” explained De Haan.
So we can VERIFY yes, gas prices do go down during the election season, but it has more to do with the demand from drivers than it does about the politics.