President Obama Appeals to Consumers on Pump Prices

The White House has launched a hard-hitting PR campaign to counter claims that President Obama is contributing to high gasoline prices.

March 14, 2012

ORLANDO, Fla. - President Barack Obama is taking his message that he is not to blame for high gas prices to the people, the Washington Post reports. The president sat for a series of interviews with TV reporters in several markets to rebut criticism that he isn??t doing enough about rising pump prices.

"As long as gas prices are going up, people are going to feel like I??m not doing enough, and I understand that," said Obama during an interview with WFTV, an ABC affiliate. The White House has begun an aggressive PR initiative to dampen the attacks blaming Obama for high gasoline prices.

This week, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Obama could lower gasoline prices from the national average of $3.79 per gallon by $1.29 to reach $2.50. But the president dismissed that assertion. "Nobody believes that," said Obama. "They know that??s just politics. Anybody who says we can get gas down to two bucks a gallon just isn??t telling the truth."

However, despite Obama??s push for long-term solutions to pump prices, recent opinion polls show the public is upset with his performance. A Washington Post-ABC News poll this week found that 65% of respondents said they were not happy with his efforts, with only 26% okay with it.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices continue to spike, with the U.S. average cost for regular gasoline jumping 12.31 cents over a two-week period to reach $3.81 per gallon, according to the Lundberg Survey Inc., BusinessWeek reports. That price is nearly 31 cents above this time in 2011.

"As refineries complete their maintenance, overall motor- gasoline supply will become more generous, and this will probably put a stop to the price rise," said Trilby Lundberg, president of Lundberg Survey. "This of course depends on whether crude-oil prices cooperate."

Check out "What Fuels Consumer Behavior?" in the April issue of NACS Magazine for a detailed look at the 2012 NACS Consumer Fuels Report.

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