Americans expect gasoline prices to keep rising after Iran strikes — poll

Most Americans think gasoline prices are going to rise in the coming months following US President Donald Trump’s decision to launch military strikes on Iran, and many expect a protracted conflict, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday.

Some 67 percent of respondents in the four-day poll – including 44% of Republicans and 85% of Democrats – said they expect gas prices in the U.S. to get worse over the next year. Sixty percent of Americans expect US military involvement in Iran will “go on for an extended period of time,” according to the poll.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that just 29% of Americans approve of the strikes — just two percentage points more than the figure from the last poll conducted in the hours immediately following the start of the military campaign. Both polls had margins of error of about 3 percentage points.

The latest poll underscores the political risks Trump brings to his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections when Democrats hope to seize control from Trump’s party of at least one chamber of Congress.

Some 64% of poll respondents – including one in four Republicans and nine in 10 Democrats – said Trump has not clearly explained the goals of US military involvement.