Politics: Power of the Pump...And Maybe 9/11 Too

Gasoline prices are dropping, and whenever I pass a gas station and see that the prices have dropped further I grin slightly and think to myself some combination of "that's good" and "it's about time." Doing some very rough calculations, I note that in an average month I use around 40 gallons of gas, thus the drop in prices from the $3.15 level down to around $2.35 saves me around $30-$35 per month. Not an insubstantial amount, particularly for a person who receives a paltry salary from the Florida Senate. However, it is also fair to say that it is not a life-changing event, even for a person who uses twice the gasoline I do and may save up to $60 per month.

It is interesting to note that this week, President Bush's poll numbers appear to be on an upswing and currently stand at 44 percent. The poll numbers coincide not only with dropping gasoline prices but also with the national remembrance of the 9/11 attacks last weekend. I believe that both are factors in the upswing for Presidential support, but am inclined to think that in the November elections, gasoline prices may play a more important part in determining which party enjoys success, particularly if the numbers in the same survey showing an even split over whether the Iraq war was a mistake are not an aberration after the 9/11 remembrances. Service station signs are ubiquitous wherever a person goes, and driving along a road seeing sign after sign of drastically dropping prices after a previous surge in pricing is a constant repetitive statement that "things are improving." History proves that Americans generally vote their pocketbooks, all else being equal. Gas is the one commodity that almost every voter purchases, and it also has the most visible pricing signs of any item. Although larger economic issues, and foreign policy issues should be the primary issues of this election, do not underestimate the effect of gas prices on the result. If prices at the pump continue to drop over the next two months, those gas station price signs will send a subtle message to voters that causes them to think "things are getting better lately", a message that helps incumbents.