Gas prices are affecting North Carolina households a lot

In a new High Point University Poll, more than half (57%) of North Carolinians said that higher gas prices have affected their household a lot. Less than one-third (31%) said a little bit, and 9% said not at all.

North Carolinians were also asked to think about the prices they are currently paying for products compared to last year. Many people said that prices are much higher for gas for their cars (79%), meat (61%) and natural gas (50%). Less than half of the poll respondents said that they are paying a much higher price for fruits and vegetables (43%), milk (39%), eggs (38%), electronics (37%), bread (36%), clothing (34%), water (30%) and toys (26%).

Poll respondents were also asked about President Biden’s recent announcement that the U.S. will stop importing Russian natural gas and oil. A majority (51%) of North Carolinians said that if gas prices rise because of this policy, it is worth the cost. Less than one-third (30%) said that it is not worth the cost to take this action.

“We asked North Carolinians how the increase in gas prices are affecting their household, and a majority told us it has affected them a lot,” said Brian McDonald, associate director of the HPU Poll and adjunct instructor. “However when it comes to natural gas, these same North Carolinians said that if gas prices rise because the U.S. stops imports from Russia, a majority told us that it is worth the rising costs.”

The poll also asked respondents to indicate who or what is to blame for current levels of inflation. They were split between placing a lot of the blame on President Biden (45%) and on Russia (44%). About one-third of North Carolinians felt that a lot of the blame should be on the COVID-19 pandemic          (38%) and China (31%). Even fewer said that a lot of the blame should be on Republicans in Congress (24%), the Federal Reserve Bank of the U.S. (23%) or U.S. consumers themselves (17%).

The poll also asked North Carolinians to rate the importance of a series of issues for the state right now. More than two-thirds of the respondents said inflation (70%), education (69%), jobs (69%) and health care (67%) were very important issues in North Carolina today. Majorities said that crime (64%), corruption (60%), taxes (57%), voting fraud (53%) and COVID-19 (51%) were very important issues in North Carolina. Less than half said that race relations (49%), infrastructure (49%), voting suppression (47%), climate change (43%) and public transportation (39%) were very important issues in North Carolina.

“Inflation has become a top concern among citizens because of what has been happening in the economy,” said Dr. Jerry Fox, interim chair for the Department of Economics. “Annual inflation in the U.S. climbed dramatically from 2.7 percent to 8.6 percent over the past year from March 2021 to March 2022. Interestingly, over the same time period, U.S. unemployment declined from 6.0 percent to 3.6 percent. Prices have shot up while joblessness has fallen.”

NC residents – Prices Currently Paying (March 2022)

Thinking about the prices you are currently paying for products on this list compared to last year, would you say prices are much higher, somewhat higher, about the same as last year, somewhat lower, or much lower in price? (PRESENTED IN RANDOMIZED ORDER)

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Mar. 18 – Mar. 31, 2022, n = 889 and credibility interval is +/- 3.5%)

NC residents – Gas Prices (March 2022)

How much would you say higher gas prices have affected your household?

A lot – 57%

A little bit – 31%

Not at all – 9%

Unsure – 3%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Mar. 18 – Mar. 31, 2022, n = 889 and credibility interval is +/- 3.5%)

NC residents – Importing Russian Gas (March 2022)

President Biden recently announced that the U.S. will stop importing Russian natural gas and oil. If gas prices rise because of this policy, it is worth the cost or not worth the cost to take this action?

Worth the cost – 51%

Not worth the cost – 30%

Unsure – 19%

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Mar. 18 – Mar. 31, 2022, n = 889 and credibility interval is +/- 3.5%)

NC residents – Deserves Blame for Inflation (March 2022)

Please indicate whether you think each of these people or things deserves a lot, some, not much, or no blame for current levels of inflation. (PRESENTED IN RANDOMIZED ORDER)

 (Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Mar. 18 – Mar. 31, 2022, n = 889 and credibility interval is +/- 3.5%)

NC residents – Most Important Issues in NC (March 2022)

How do you think each of these issues is in North Carolina today? Would you say very important, somewhat important, not very important, or not at all important? (PRESENTED IN RANDOMIZED ORDER)

(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Mar. 18 – Mar. 31, 2022, n = 889 and credibility interval is +/- 3.5%)

The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on March 18 through March 31, 2022, and an online survey was fielded at the same time. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 889 adults interviewed online (803 respondents) as well as landline or cellular telephones (86 respondents). The Survey Research Center contracted with dynata, formerly Research Now SSI, to acquire these samples, and fielded the online survey using the SRC’s Qualtrics platform. This is a combined sample of live phone interviews and online interviews. The online sampling is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.3 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.12 (based on the weighting).The data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. The final stage of weighting ensures proper weighting of the online and live interviews. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available here.