Taking the historical perspective, here's the gas price relative to wages, which is higher than 2014-2020, but not in a longer-term view 2/

And as some have pointed out to me, mileage has risen a lot over time, so the actual cost of driving isn't especially high at all 3/

@pkrugman question: similar to lower vaccination rates/higher death rates among GOP voters, might they be more sensitive to higher gas prices due to driving (cultural signifier) gas guzzlers like pick up trucks?