Reply #10: Suspicion Surrounds Retreat In Gas Prices, Poll Finds

[Melissa G]

Suspicion Surrounds Retreat In Gas Prices, Poll Finds

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 10, 2006; Page D03

snip
While motorists have welcomed the drop in gasoline prices, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday showed that many Americans remain suspicious about the reasons for the recent decline and skeptical about whether it will last.

Three out of 10 Americans think the recent fall in gasoline prices is a result of domestic political factors, including White House and Republican Party efforts to influence the November elections. That's nearly as many as the 35 percent who attribute the recent price decline to market forces or supply and demand, according to the poll of 1,204 adults conducted from Thursday to Sunday.

The survey also showed that suspicions about the steep drop in gasoline prices over the past two months aren't limited to the nation's liberal strongholds. Sixteen percent of people who identified themselves as conservative Republicans, 26 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 29 percent of Southern residents think the plunge in prices is linked to the coming election or other political reasons.

Those beliefs may be blunting the positive impact President Bush and the GOP hoped to get from falling fuel prices. "I think the president's party is lowering the gas prices until the people think the economy is settling down, and then they will raise the price again, blaming it on the Arabs for raising the price on barrels of oil," one respondent said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/09/AR2006100901122.html