Gas Prices Keeping Americans At Home

New Poll Finds People Driving Less, Trimming Vacations, Lowering AC

(AP)  Americans are driving less, trimming vacations and cutting back on heating and air conditioning, according to an AP-Ipsos poll taken as gasoline prices in many areas have topped $3 a gallon.

Seven in 10 say gas prices are causing a financial pinch. And that pressure is being felt increasingly by middle-income and higher-income families.

"Now, I'm just going to work and coming home — not doing anything else," said Kathleen Roberts, who makes a daily, 100-mile round trip from York, Pa., to her teaching job in Baltimore.

Like many Americans, Roberts is trying to adjust to gas prices that have risen steadily over the last five months. The price of a gallon of regular-grade gas is now almost what it was soon after Hurricane Katrina battered domestic refineries along the Gulf Coast last August.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.92 on Friday, according to AAA, the motorists' club. The all-time high came last year on Labor Day, according to AAA, when that same gallon cost $3.05.

"These days, I'm just traveling, period," Roberts said. "Instead of going to the market as often, if I don't have it, I just make do. In our neighborhood, we just borrow from each other."

When asked what would be a fair price for gasoline, many of those surveyed said $2-a-gallon on average — a price not seen consistently in the U.S. for more than a year, according to AAA.

Energy analysts blame the higher prices on a tight supply internationally, unstable politics in oil-producing countries and fast-growing economies in places like China and India.

Other factors include an inadequate number of U.S. refineries and delays in the switchover to summer blends of fuel, the analysts say.

Whatever the reasons, soaring gas prices are affecting behavior.

Two-thirds of people said they have cut back on driving and have reduced the use of heating and air conditioning. Half now say they have trimmed their vacation plans.

Hearing talk about vacation cutbacks upsets Susan Morang, a psychiatric counselor from Washington, Maine. She helps clients deliver antiques for sale during the summer tourism season.