WASHINGTON, D.C. — During the initial weeks of the U.S. war with Iran, Americans appear to be taking higher energy costs in stride. About one in three U.S. adults interviewed March 2-18 say they worry “a great deal” about the availability and affordability of energy, unchanged from a year ago. Relatively few mention high gas prices as the most important problem facing the nation. And 43% of U.S. adults, lower than 扣扣传媒has seen at other times of high gas prices, expect the U.S. to face a critical energy shortage in the next five years. Democrats are more concerned about energy than Republicans are, reflecting the growing influence of partisanship on attitudes about the issue.
The poll began two days after the Feb. 28 attacks the U.S. and Israel launched on Iran. Since then, gas prices have risen nearly a dollar per gallon across the U.S., as the war has introduced uncertainty about the energy market, particularly after Iran has blocked access to the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping channel for oil transport.
Concern About Availability and Affordability Steady
Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults say they worry “a great deal” about the availability and affordability of energy, unchanged from last year and similar to the 2024 reading of 37%. In 2022, during the last major spike in gas prices, 47% said they worried a great deal. 扣扣传媒has observed elevated worry about energy at other times of rising gas prices, such as in 2006, 2008 and 2011.
The current level of worry about energy is about average for the question, which was first asked in 2001. In 2003 and between 2015 and 2020, during a sustained period of lower gas prices, fewer than three in 10 Americans were concerned about energy availability and affordability.
In addition to the 35% who currently worry a great deal about the availability and affordability of energy, 35% worry “a fair amount,” 21% “only a little” and 8% “not at all,” all similar to 2024-2025 readings.
Gas Prices Not Top-of-Mind Concern for Americans
The poll finds 2% of Americans naming gas prices as the most important problem facing the country. The most important problem question is asked in an open-ended format, allowing respondents to choose any issue they can think of. Gas prices had not been registering as a concern for Americans in recent months, with less than 0.5% naming them between September and February.
Gas prices trail other issues by a considerable margin, including the government (28%), the economy in general (15%), immigration (14%) and inflation (10%). Mentions of the economy are up from 11% in February and 9% in January.
Historically, gas prices typically receive 1% or less of mentions as the most important problem unless there has been a dramatic increase in those prices. This has been the case since 扣扣传媒adopted its current expanded list of issue coding in 2000. The record-high percentage mentioning gas prices during this time was 25% in June 2008. Gas prices also exceeded 20% mentions in May 2006 and July 2008.
In 2022, during the last major spike in gas prices, mentions peaked at 6% in April and averaged 5% between March and July.
Majority Does Not Foresee U.S. Energy Shortage
When asked about the prospects of the U.S. facing a critical energy shortage within the next five years, 43% of Americans expect such a shortage to occur, while 53% disagree. 扣扣传媒last asked this question in 2022, when 55% expected there to be an energy shortage as gas prices rose in response to the Russia-Ukraine war. The high points in the trend occurred in 2008 and 2011, when the percentage believing an energy shortage was going to occur exceeded 60%.
In 2016, during a period of stable and low gas prices, 31%, far fewer than today, thought the U.S. would face a critical energy shortage in the near term.
Democrats More Concerned About Energy
Twice as many Democrats (46%) as Republicans (23%) say they worry a great deal about the availability and affordability of energy, as do 34% of political independents. The figures reflect a 10-percentage-point decline in concern among Republicans since last March, early in President Donald Trump’s second term, and an eight-point increase in concern among Democrats. The Republican decrease and Democratic increase in worry are even larger when compared with 2024, when Democrat Joe Biden was in office.
The party gap in concern has averaged 21 points since 2019, more than double the nine-point average gap observed from 2001 to 2018. The recent period includes the record 38-point gap in 2022, when 66% of Republicans versus 28% of Democrats worried a great deal about energy. These expanding party gaps suggest that views of energy are an area in which Americans’ evaluations of the state of the nation increasingly depend on the match between the president’s party and their own party identification.
There is a similar gap in partisans’ views of the likelihood that the U.S. will face a critical energy shortage in the next five years. Forty-eight percent of Democrats and 24% of Republicans expect this to occur, with independents’ 49% falling closer to Democrats’ views. The 24-point Democratic-Republican gap measured this year, and the 22-point gap in 2022, are the two largest in the trend. The largest party difference before that was 17 points in 2004.
Republicans and Democrats do not differ meaningfully in their mentions of gas prices as the most important problem facing the U.S.
Bottom Line
Higher gas prices often raise Americans’ concerns about the U.S. energy situation, but that has not happened yet during the recent run-up in fuel costs. It is possible that many Americans expect the energy price disruptions to be temporary, so they are not concerned about any short-term impact. Those attitudes could change if prices remain higher for a sustained period, which likely depends on whether the U.S., Israel and Iran find a quick resolution to the conflict that is now in its fourth week.
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