Gas Averages $4.17 on Election Day, Highest for Any Election Day on Record

Americans went to the polls today, Nov. 3, with gasoline at the highest price ever recorded on an Election Day.

AAA put the national average for regular at $4.17 on Monday. That is roughly 37 cents above the level heading into the 2022 midterms, the previous Election Day record. GasBuddy had it at $4.12 early Tuesday, with diesel at $6.28. NBC News' own tracker showed $4.16 on Monday. The numbers differ by a few cents because each tracker uses its own methodology. All three point the same way.

The size of the jump

Before the war started, regular gas averaged $2.98 a gallon, per NBC News' tracker. That was Feb. 28, the day President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched attacks on Iran that sent crude oil prices sharply higher. The national price is up about 40% since.

A year ago the picture was very different. On Oct. 14, 2025, AAA had regular at $3.07 and diesel at $3.65. This October 14, AAA had them at $4.33 and $6.29.

Prices have eased from that mid-October level, but only a little. Diesel hit a peak of $6.53 in October, according to the Energy Information Administration. Trucks, freight trains and farm equipment run on diesel, so that cost works its way into groceries and goods.

Hit hardest where the Senate is in play

The increase is steeper in several states with tight Senate races. NBC News' tracker shows:

• Iowa and Nebraska: up nearly 55% since late February
• Kansas: up 53%
• Michigan: up 51%, from $2.99 to $4.52
• Ohio: up 48%
• Maine: up 46%

Trump carried Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas in 2024. This year Democrats Josh Turek (Iowa) and Adam Hamilton (Kansas) and independent Dan Osborn (Nebraska) are being watched closely. In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers. In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown is challenging Sen. Jon Husted. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson is running against Sen. Susan Collins.

Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats and three House seats for control. NBC News reports the House is widely expected to flip, while the Senate is, in its words, "a jump ball."

What voters are telling pollsters

In an NBC News poll, 73% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of inflation and the cost of living, and about two-thirds call soaring gas prices a serious problem. The same poll found 53% of Republicans dissatisfied with the economy.

Gallup found 50% of voters rate the economy as extremely important. AP-NORC found 85% rank it as their top issue. A KFF/AP survey of more than 2,000 rural voters found 67% worried about paying for fuel and transportation, more than worried about healthcare, food, rent or utilities.

Pollster Robert Cahaly, founder of the Trafalgar Group, told The Epoch Times that fuel costs are "the only real factor that's having an impact." He described voters thinking, "I might agree with the Republican versus the Democrat, but I don't like what's going on at the gas pump and I want to punish somebody." That is one pollster's read, not a measured result.

The inflation picture

Consumer prices rose 3.7% over the year through September and 0.6% from August. A New York Federal Reserve study found Trump's tariffs added about 2.9 percentage points to prices across the consumer goods it examined. About a third of that came from U.S.-made products, as domestic manufacturers paid more for imported materials and components.

The wars in Iran and Ukraine are disrupting global fuel supplies. Trump's escalating trade fight with Canada adds another cost risk.

The administration's position and a caveat on the record

Trump's stated position is that the war is the reason prices are high and that peace will fix it. "By the way, when that war ends, you're gonna see gasoline coming down," he said at an Iowa rally Sunday.

GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan, who called Tuesday's figure a "new Election Day record," also noted the limits of it. Adjusted for inflation, the summer 2008 peak of roughly $6 in today's dollars is still higher. De Haan said prices, "though nominally high, were not near inflation-adjusted records."

PBS reports that Republicans have focused their campaign messaging on social issues, while Democrats have centered Trump's approval rating, the Iran war and affordability.

The war is not winding down

The U.S. carried out what officials called defensive airstrikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, ABC News reports. The Wall Street Journal and MS NOW have also reported that the president is weighing a new round of strikes that could come as soon as Wednesday, Nov. 4. Three senior Gulf Arab officials told MS NOW the administration has told Gulf allies to prepare for a short but intense round.

The administration has not confirmed any such plan. Whether the war ends before gas prices ease, as Trump says they will, is not something Tuesday's results can settle. A new strike round would test that promise the day after the polls close.