The recent spike in gas prices has caused plenty of griping about pain at the pump, but a new survey finds that it’s going to take a much bigger jump before many people start rethinking their spending habits.
A Gallup poll released Thursday found that, on average, gas prices would have to hit $5.30 before people would be forced to make significant cutbacks in other types of spending.
The survey, conducted just a few days ago, also found that, on average, Americans said they would be forced to make significant changes in how they lived their life only if gas hit $5.35 a gallon.
Still, that means about half of Americans would have to start making significant changes in their spending or other habits long before we hit $5-a-gallon gas.
Prices at the pump finally eased a couple of days ago, after 27 straight days of increases. A gallon of regular gas currently costs $3.76 on average, up from $3.52 a year ago, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
Gallup surveyed about 1,000 people to come up with its results.