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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 30, 2020 in a post on Facebook: Gas prices during the Obama-Biden administration were $5.49 a gallon. ![\\"true\\"](\\" half-true/6479cbc723379f0ee49c269b0b9790b7.jpg.\\") ![\\"half- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * National * Energy * Viral image ![\\"Madison](\\" By Madison Czopek October 2, 2020 # Photo shows real gas prices during Obama-Biden administration, but that’s not the whole story #### If Your Time is short • A photo shows real gas prices from May 7, 2012, during the Obama-Biden administration. • The $5.49 per gallon price of gas appears to have been cherry-picked from a spike in the price of gas in summer 2012. See the sources for this fact-check People are sharing a viral image on social media that shows gas prices at more than $5 per gallon to suggest that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were responsible for the remarkably high prices during their time in the White House. One Facebook post includes an image of an Exxon sign that lists the per-gallon prices for various types of gas: regular at $5.49, plus at $5.59 and supreme at $5.79. \"Just a reminder of what things looked like the last time Biden was in the White House,\" the text added to the bottom of the photo reads. The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) A reverse image search revealed that the photo is real. PolitiFact found the photo on two stock photo websites: Alamy and Shutterstock. \"WASHINGTON, DC, USA - $5 gas price sign at Exxon service station on May 7, 2012, near Watergate complex at intersection of Virginia Ave NW and Rock Creek Parkway NW,\" the caption provided with the Alamy photo reads. At that point, Obama and Biden had been in the White House about three years. But the photo is from spring 2012, a period when gas prices spiked. The prices shown in the photo were also $1.70-plus more than the weekly retail price for a gallon of gas on average in the U.S., which was $3.79 on May 7, 2012. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on September 11, 2024 in an Instagram post \"Debate moderators made the false claim to Donald Trump that there is nowhere in the United States where abortion is legal up until birth.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 Gas prices fluctuate often, regardless of who is president at the time. Several experts maintain that unless the president is directly controlling gasoline prices, he cannot take credit for the cost. Severin Borenstein, the director of the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business University of California Berkeley, told PolitiFact presidents have \"very little direct influence\" over gas prices. \"By far the biggest driver is the price of crude oil, which is driven by supply and demand factors,\" he said. \"A strong global economy, which presidents can influence slightly, is likely to increase demand and drive up prices. The economic growth out of the financial crisis was part of what drove high gasoline prices in 2012-14, just as the pandemic-driven global recession is now keeping oil prices very low.\" A comprehensive look at gas prices during both the Obama and Trump administrations revealed that average gas prices for the entire country varied greatly. On average, the weekly regular retail gas price during the Trump administration was about $2.50 per gallon, which is less than the average weekly regular retail price during the Obama administration — about $2.97 per gallon. Our ruling A Facebook post includes an image of an Exxon sign that lists gas prices at more than $5 per gallon and says, \"Just a reminder of what things looked like the last time Biden was in the White House.\" It is a real photo of the price of gas at a Washington D.C. Exxon station in May 2012, when Obama and Biden were in office. However, the photo was taken when gas prices were spiking and shows a price that was still well above the average cost of a gallon of gas in the U.S. at that time. Gas prices fluctuate regardless of who the president is. The average price during the Obama years was $2.97 a gallon. We rate this claim Half True. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Facebook post, Sept. 21, 2020 Alamy images, \"WASHINGTON, DC, USA - $5 gas price sign at Exxon service station on May 7, 2012,\" accessed Oct. 1, 2020 Shutterstock.com, \"WASHINGTON, DC, USA - $5 gas price sign at Exxon service station on May 7, 2012,\" accessed Oct. 1, 2020 U.S. Energy Information Administration, \"Weekly U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices,\" accessed Oct. 1, 2020 Snopes.com, \"Is Gasoline Cheaper Under President Obama?\" Dec. 21, 2015 Forbes, \"Gasoline Prices Under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump,\" Jan. 11, 2019 NBC News, \"Trump claims credit for cheap gas. Experts say it\'s not so simple,\" Jan. 2, 2019 Vox, \"Why Trump taking credit for low gas prices is a bad idea,\" Jan. 3, 2019 Email interview with Severin Borenstein, the director of the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business University of California Berkeley, Oct. 2, 2020 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Madison Czopek ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 11, 2024 in a post on Truth Social: Photo of Kamala Harris’ Aug. 7 rally near Detroit was AI-generated and “there was nobody there.” Attendees pictured “didn’t exist.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • August 12, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on July 27, 2024 in a post on X: Video shows that “JD Vance endorses Project 2025.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • July 31, 2024 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on July 22, 2024 in a post on X: The death of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, six days after the Trump rally shooting was linked to her “oversight of the Secret Service.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • July 24, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on September 15, 2024 in a CNN interview: In Springfield, Ohio, “murders are up by 81%.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • September 23, 2024 ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" logo-black-01/438dbf066033f99de07598cbcc77ddcb.jpg\\") Threads posts stated on September 13, 2024 in a post on Threads: “ABC lost $27M in ad revenue after advertisers pulled ads from the network after the way they hosted the debate\" on Sept. 10. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • September 15, 2024 ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" logo-black-01/438dbf066033f99de07598cbcc77ddcb.jpg\\") Threads posts stated on September 12, 2024 in a post on Threads: An image shows Travis Kelce responding to Elon Musk X post that followed Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • September 13, 2024 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on September 3, 2024 in a video posted on X: On June 7, 2011, Kamala Harris was involved in a San Francisco hit-and-run crash that injured a woman named Alicia Brown. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • September 5, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on August 29, 2024 in a post on Instagram: “BREAKING: Illegal Aliens in San Diego, California, tried to hijack 2 school buses filled with children.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • September 4, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on August 25, 2024 in a Facebook post: “There’s no such thing as menopause.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • August 30, 2024 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on August 24, 2024 in an Instagram post: World Economic Forum “document confirms 6 billion humans will die in 2025.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • August 29, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Bob Casey stated on August 22, 2024 in a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention: “Prices are up because these corporations are scheming to drive them up.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • August 28, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on August 16, 2024 in a post on X: “Kamala Harris wants to give $25,000 to illegal aliens to buy American homes.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • August 22, 2024 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on August 4, 2024 in an Instagram post: “The NFL will now use facial recognition at every stadium to verify the identity of everyone at the game.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • August 16, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on August 12, 2024 in a post on Facebook: Dr. Leo Ferreira, a cancer researcher shown in a video clip, was on the plane that crashed in Brazil on Aug. 9. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • August 15, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Jesse Watters stated on August 6, 2024 in a segment on \"Jesse Watters Primetime\": Minnesota Gov. 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Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, six days after the Trump rally shooting was linked to her “oversight of the Secret Service.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • July 24, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on September 15, 2024 in a CNN interview: In Springfield, Ohio, “murders are up by 81%.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • September 23, 2024 ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" logo-black-01/438dbf066033f99de07598cbcc77ddcb.jpg\\") Threads posts stated on September 13, 2024 in a post on Threads: “ABC lost $27M in ad revenue after advertisers pulled ads from the network after the way they hosted the debate\" on Sept. 10. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Madison Czopek • September 15, 2024 ![](\\" logo-black-01/b6cedac93f6e57c68ecc025e5ec29d57.jpg\\") ![](\\" logo-black-01/438dbf066033f99de07598cbcc77ddcb.jpg\\") Threads posts stated on September 12, 2024 in a post on Threads: An image shows Travis Kelce responding to Elon Musk X post that followed Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • September 13, 2024 ### Photo shows real gas prices during Obama-Biden administration, but that’s not the whole story * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on September 10, 2024 in the ABC News presidential debate: “Donald Trump said he was going to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. 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Gas prices during the ObamaBiden administration were 549 a gallon