Vice President JD Vance told a voter at a CBS News town hall that gas prices are too high right now, acknowledging economic strain as the administration has otherwise described the country as thriving. Within two days, a fact-check tore apart the explanation Vance gave for why prices are elevated, finding that his central claim about Biden-era refinery shutdowns does not hold up.
The town hall, which aired Saturday, put Vance face to face with a voter concerned about high gas prices, according to CBS News. Vance told the questioner that gas prices were too high and said he attributed the elevation partly to events in the Middle East, while insisting the administration was taking steps to lower prices, according to CNBC. He also acknowledged that the administration's immigration enforcement tactics were, in his words, constantly a work in progress.
But it was Vance's explanation for the high prices that drew the most scrutiny. At the CBS town hall on October 17, Vance said, “The biggest reason why gas prices are so high is because when Joe Biden was president, we had about 20% of American refining capacity that went offline,” according to PolitiFact.
Fact-Check Finds the Math Doesn't Add Up Nationally
PolitiFact rated the claim False two days later, writing bluntly, “We rate the statement False.” The fact-checking organization found that the 20% figure applied to California's refining capacity, not the nation's, and that national refining capacity remained largely stable during the Biden years. Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy told PolitiFact that describing the loss as 20% of national refinery capacity was simply inaccurate.
The same review found that U.S. refinery capacity lost through shutdowns during Donald Trump's two terms in office was actually four times the amount lost during Biden's term, per an analysis the outlet cited. Energy experts told PolitiFact that the most obvious cause of today's high gasoline prices is the Iran war and the disruption it caused to oil shipping and infrastructure, not any domestic refinery closures from years earlier. Roughly 3 million barrels per day of refinery capacity have been offline in Russia and the Middle East because of Ukrainian and Iranian attacks, the outlet reported, forcing U.S. refiners to shift some production from gasoline toward diesel.
Two Different Economic Messages From the Top of the Ticket
The dueling accounts reflect a broader split in how Trump and Vance are framing the economy ahead of the midterms. According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, Trump has described America as being in a golden age, said the United States is doing better now than ever before, and dismissed affordability concerns as a hoax. He has also called high gas prices a small price to pay for keeping the country and world safe amid the Iran war, and said he will achieve a victory over Iran that benefits U.S. consumers.
Vance has taken a notably different tone. He told voters in Texas that people are frustrated by the pace of progress, per the same report. He acknowledged that more work is needed and the country can do better, while also saying that Democratic predecessors left the country in a deep hole. Conda Little said people struggling with high prices need to hear the truth; Vance added that he knows voters are feeling an economic pinch even as he sells Trump's broader agenda.
Economic Backdrop Shapes the Political Stakes
The split messaging comes against a backdrop of mixed economic signals. Consumer prices rose 3.7% over the past year before seasonal adjustment, with gasoline alone up 9.1% in September and accounting for more than half of that month's overall price increase, according to federal data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate was reported at 4.2% in September, with jobless rates among adult men, adult women, teenagers, and several racial and ethnic groups showing little change over the month.
American confidence in the economy fell to its lowest level in more than a decade this month, and the U.S. mortgage rate rose to its highest level in nearly three years, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported. Recent economic data showed that high gasoline prices are intensifying inflation and that higher oil and gas expenses are raising costs elsewhere in the economy, the outlet noted, even as Trump supporters remained mostly uninterested in blaming the higher prices on anything the president has done.
Voters Split on Whether the Message Is Landing
At a Trump event in Dalton, Georgia, 67-year-old Cindy Massengill said Trump is doing the best he can, while 76-year-old retiree Conda Little, who attended the event, said she found Vance more real, according to the Daily Journal's reporting. In Wichita, Kansas, Mary Bunker said she feels the pressure of high gas prices but likes Trump's tax breaks and does not blame his economic policies, calling him a very good businessman who understands what he is talking about because he has been in business a long time.
Not everyone is convinced. Santiago Rodriguez, a 19-year-old Texas college student who will vote for the first time this year, attended a campaign rally last week for Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, the newspaper reported. Some Trump supporters believe his penchant for salesmanship may not be working, the outlet added, a dynamic that echoes a separate New York Times report describing voters split between frustration over high grocery prices and continued support for the president.
Vance's Working-Class Pitch Amid 2028 Speculation
Vance has repeatedly invoked his upbringing in a working-class family in a Rust Belt town, and has said his grandmother struggled when gas prices were high in the past, according to the Daily Journal. He said Trump was speaking about new investments coming into the country when discussing the economy more broadly. Vance also said he has not yet decided whether he will run for president in 2028.
Trump has praised Vance as talented but said it is too early in his presidency to discuss endorsing him as a successor, telling reporters Vance should focus on the midterm elections rather than a presidential endorsement. The Associated Press noted that when Vance speaks on the campaign trail about high costs, he often says he understands that people are hurting — a message that stands in contrast to Trump's own framing of the economy as a golden age for the country.
