In November 2024, Ross Burkhart, a political science professor in the School of Public Service, presented a paper on gas prices and governmental approval at the Pacific Northwest Political Science Association.
The paper, “Priming the Pump? Gas Prices and Governmental Approval in the U.S. and Canada,” is a comparative look at how fluctuations in gas prices correlate presidential approval in the U.S. and prime ministerial approval in Canada.
From his analysis of daily and monthly gas prices and governmental approval data in both countries, Burkhart concludes that there is a moderate correlation in both countries between gas prices and governmental approval. However, the correlation is conditioned on partisanship, based on U.S. survey research evidence. The surveys Burkhart used are both at the national level (from the Verasight survey firm) and statewide in Idaho (from the eighth annual Public Policy Survey by the Idaho Policy Institute).