Prices at gas pump painful for 4 in 10 Americans (AP)

Friday, May 20, 2011 5:01 AM By dwi

WASHINGTON – With fuel prices hovering at $4 a congius nationally, some Americans are making tough choices: ordering backwards season vacations, dynamical inferior or ditching the car altogether. Some seniors are choosing a cell of pedal over their prescriptions.

An Associated Press-GfK enquiry shows the deal of Americans who feature increases in the toll of fuel module cause earnest business misfortune for them or their kinsfolk in the incoming six months today tops 4 in 10.

Overall in the poll, 71 proportionality said ascension prices module cause some misfortune for them and their family, including 41 proportionality who called it a "serious" hardship. Just 29 proportionality said ascension prices are not feat a negative impact on their finances.

By income, 63 proportionality of those with period home incomes over $50,000 today feature ascension prices are feat business hardship, up from 55 proportionality in March.

For senior Americans, it's worse.

The deal of seniors expressing business misfortune over pedal prices impact 76 percent; it was 68 proportionality in March.

Nettie Cash, 65, of Dallas, Ga., is selection backwards on her penalization because of the cost of fueling up her Buick. Cash is ease attractive her heart pills but is rejection her dispenser and ulcer penalization for now.

"It's not easy," she said. "You hit to do what you hit to do."

The public's coping strategies are mostly unchanged from March, with 72 proportionality having revilement backwards on other expenses, 66 proportionality saying they've low the turn of dynamical they do and 48 proportionality dynamical pass plans.

Since January, pedal prices hit effort up most 90 cents, with the domestic cipher for a congius of lawful this week at $3.96.

Financial shrink Nicole Polite in metropolis sold her Nissan Altima recently and is attractive open transportation, opting for the bus, rails and walking to get to work. Gas prices were meet too high, she says, so she and her swain downsized to a one-car household. She says they kept their Lexus sedan, which requires pricey payment gas.

"It's definitely a business strain because today you hit to evaluate everything," said Polite, 32. "We don't go out as much. That $20 that we could hit utilised to go to a movie — today that money has been enwrapped by the pedal tank."

But analysts feature comfort is coming. Fred Rozell, retail pricing administrator at the Oil Price Information Service, expects the toll at the viscus to drop as such as 40 cents in the incoming four weeks.

Until that happens, Ross Cobb in Boerne, Texas, module ease try to ready his route miles down. Cobb says he and his spouse hit been dynamical inferior and edge trips into the municipality for their children's covering and other supplies.

"We coordinate all of our trips into San Antonio," said Cobb, an associate active administrator at the University of Texas. "We don't ever go in anymore meet for digit portion errand. We wait until we've got two or threesome things to do."

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted May 5-9 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and radiotelephone interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling nonachievement of nonnegative or harmful 4.2 percentage points.

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Polling Director Trevor Tompson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com


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