A CNN anchor noted on Sunday that despite the Biden administration’s push to blame recent gas price spikes on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most Americans do not appear to believe that.
During a panel discussion that included Axios political reporter Hans Nichols, CNN anchor Abby Phillip agreed that no matter what economic good news the White House may offer, or excuses for the bad news such as the “Putin Price Hike,” high gasoline prices were unavoidable in the current inflationary cycle, and they don’t look to abate anytime soon.
“When inflation is where it’s at, when you see gas prices going where it’s at, we can talk about a jobs report here, we can talk about the latest PCE [personal consumption expenditures] numbers or the CPI [consumer price index], and all of us former Bloomberg reporters can really get into the weeds, right?” Phillip began.
“But there’s one number that they can’t really change right now,” he warned. “And that is what the placard says at the local gas station.”
The Daily Wire added:
Phillip pointed out that the White House had even attempted to label the rise in gas prices as the #PutinPriceHike — even bringing in TikTok influencers to help them spread that particular message — a move that did not seem to take hold in the way that the Biden administration might have liked.
In addition to blaming Putin, President Joe Biden and others in his administration have attempted to blame the rising gas prices on the oil companies themselves, claiming that many of them are sitting on thousands of unused land leases and allowing prices to rise for the American people while continuing to draw record profits for themselves and for their shareholders.
“Look, when I’ve passed gas stations that say ‘blame Putin’ more than they say ‘Let’s go Brandon,’ I’ll know the White House has been successful in messaging,” Nichols replied.
“That is fascinating in its own right,” Phillip said in agreement before sharing the results of a recent poll that showed the messaging had not taken with most Americans.
“Take a look at this Quinnipiac poll. Americans just don’t buy that this is related to the war in Ukraine, and most of it, frankly, is not. 41 percent say it’s Biden’s policies, just 24 percent say the war in Ukraine. Twenty-four percent also say the oil and gas companies are raising prices,” Phillip said.
“But the White House is trying to do both, blame Putin, blame the oil and gas companies, but Americans just don’t agree.”
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