90% expect gas prices to hit hard, poll finds

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jul 1, 2008 | by Alan Fram Associated Press

Midwesterners are among the likeliest to think rising gas costs will cause them serious personal hardship. Southerners are among the more willing to reduce driving.

As a political issue in the presidential campaign, gas prices provide a slight edge to Democrat Barack Obama. More prefer him over Republican John McCain to handle the problem, 28 percent to 20 percent, while an additional 18 percent trust both equally.

There is a strong sense of powerlessness. One-third do not think either candidate can deal with the problem. That includes half of independents, one-third of Republicans and one-quarter of Democrats.

The AP-Yahoo News survey of 1,759 adults was conducted from June 13-23 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 844 Democrats and 637 Republicans, for whom the margins of sampling error were plus or minus 3.4 points and 3.9 points, respectively.

The poll was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free.

Contributing: Trevor Tompson and Dennis Junius