California Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign to blame oil companies for alleged gas price gouging is falling flat with voters, according to a recent poll.
The survey, conducted in June on behalf of a firm active in California’s carbon credit marketplace, shows Californians overwhelmingly blame the state’s gas tax and uniquely burdensome regulatory requirements for high gas prices. The poll also showed California voters, by a thirty point margin failed to identify “price gouging” – Newsom’s favorite boogeyman – as a principal driver of the state’s nation-leading fuel costs: 
Is Newsom’s Price Gouging Campaign Working?
However, Politico, which reported the poll exclusively last week, curiously argued that this survey indicated Newsom’s campaign to demonize oil companies over high gas prices has been a success.
Confused headline. The poll cited literally says Californians don’t believe Newsom’s claims by a 2-1 margin. -> Newsom’s gas price gambit is working https://t.co/e1Z8dfikVR
— Rob Stutzman
(@RobStutzman) July 17, 2024
While the survey may suggest Newsom’s base backs the governor’s message on gas prices, it conversely demonstrates overwhelming bipartisan majorities of voters aren’t buying Newsom’s spin. That’s likely due, as the story points out, to the fact that the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Division of Petroleum Market Oversight still has found no evidence of price gouging. Shon Hiatt, an associate professor of business at the University of Southern California focused on the energy industry, highlighted this:
“Newsom made a big display of blaming refineries in 2022 when gas prices soared to $6.22 per gallon and the state created an independent watchdog to investigate market manipulation. But the investigation is ongoing, and ‘we haven’t seen any evidence of [price gouging] yet,’ [Hiatt] said.
However the CEC told Politico earlier this month that the state has collected evidence that “points to foul play” when it comes to previous periods of gas price spikes.
That’s surprising, because CEC Vice Chair Siva Gunda told State Sen. Susan Rubio, an East LA Democrat, the precise opposite in a May 7th committee hearing:
SEN. SUSAN RUBIO: You said we have not independently verified this, but then you went on to make a statement about them possibly manipulating their prices. So, I’d rather you not make statements if you have not independently verified, because this is where confusion comes from. This is where I think we start vilifying something we don’t know for a fact. And I heard you say all the time that you spent already, I think you mentioned all the hours already put into this, and I’d rather that this be part of the discussion versus putting it out without having any, you know, verification. […]
SIVA GUNDA: […] And I also want to just, if I may, just kind of react to, you know, Senator Rubio’s question. I think the, and I just want to respectfully offer that the word I used was mischaracterized costs. It was not manipulation because we were just kind of, we observed that today that some of the costs were just mischaracterized. And we’re working with them to correct them, so not indicating any foul play right now where we are trying to work very carefully with them. [emphasis added]
These mixed messages from the CEC are sure to only add further confusion to the price gouging debate, and threaten to reinforce the notion that Newsom is far more interested in pushing a political narrative with the media than doing anything to increase energy supplies, lower costs, or reverse the state’s burdensome regulatory regime.
Bottom Line: Gavin Newsom’s “price gouging” sideshow isn’t fooling anyone outside of his fringe base. All available evidence clearly demonstrates that California’s taxes and regulations are the major culprit behind the state’s sky-high prices at the pump.
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