No, gasoline prices haven’t dropped an average of $4 in red states

Some social media users are celebrating President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, but posts crediting his election victory for purportedly causing gasoline prices to drop by several dollars a gallon in Republican states aren’t accurate. 

"Gas prices drop an average of $4 across red states: ‘This is just the beginning,’" a Nov. 8 Facebook post said, sharing an illustration of a red wave across a map of the United States and an image of a gasoline station. 

The Facebook post linked to a blog post that said the purported "plunge at the pump" is "‘just the beginning’ of what Trump supporters are calling an economic renaissance."

The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The blog post is plagiarized. The original text appeared in a Nov. 7 post on the self-described satire site, Esspots, where it was clearly labeled "satire."

The image in the Facebook post was also lifted from a Facebook page affiliated with the satire site. Here, too, it included a watermark that said "rated satire."Each state imposes its own gasoline taxes; blue states historically have higher gasoline taxes than red states, Newsweek reported in 2022. As of Nov. 19, the national average was about $3.06, AAA reported. 

Prices ranged from about $2.57 to $4.57. States with the cheapest gasoline voted for Trump. But states with the most expensive gasoline were not limited to places Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, won.

Among the states with the highest retail gasoline prices: Alaska, California, Nevada,  Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Featured Fact-check

Instagram posts

stated on November 12, 2024 in an Instagram post

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are “part of the World Economic Forum.”

ABC News reported Sept. 17 — before Election Day — that "gas prices are plummeting," down about 50 cents per gallon. When the ABC News story ran, the national average was $3.20, and it’s fallen more since. 

Why? Experts ABC News consulted said sluggish gasoline demand, a sharp decline in the price of crude oil, and refineries "shifting toward a less-expensive blend of winter fuel." 

"This is something we see every year," AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross told ABC News. 

We rate claims gasoline prices fell an average of $4 across red states since Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory False.