Most Feel Gas Pinch, But Keep on Cruisin'

Most Americans are adjusting to higher gas prices without cutting back on their driving this summer. But they're not happy about it -- and the tipping point may be just over a dollar away.

Sixty percent in this ABC News poll say the price of gasoline is causing them financial hardship, and nearly three in 10 say it's "serious" hardship. Yet only 15 percent plan to cut back on their driving in the weeks ahead -- far fewer than said so after the last two gas-price spikes, in September 2005 and last May.

Is less driving on the horizon? It depends on the price of gas. Americans on average say they'd significantly cut back on their driving if gas hit $4.16 per gallon. That compares to an average $2.99 in the U.S. Department of Energy's weekly survey last week -- the second highest on record in nominal terms, surpassed only after Hurricane Katrina.

Driving

Another is that after a year in which gas hasn't fallen below $2.15 a gallon, people are just getting used to it, however unhappily. Indeed, the number who call it a hardship is down by 10 points from a record 70 percent last April, and "serious hardship" is down further, by 15 points.

The money has to come from somewhere; to pay at the pump most Americans say they're mainly either spending less on other things (39 percent) or saving less (20 percent). That could prove problematic; reduced consumer spending elsewhere, which Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted in Senate testimony last week, could fuel an economic slowdown.

Groups

The pain of gas prices falls disproportionately on lower-income Americans. Among people with households incomes under $25,000 a year, 68 percent call gas prices a hardship and 38 percent call them a serious hardship. Among people in $75,000-plus households, the level of hardship is 20 points lower.

Hardship also is greater among people who live outside of metropolitan areas -- they have to drive more -- and, likely for the same reason, among people with children at home.

There also are differences among groups on what price might cause people to cut back significantly on their driving. Numbers peak among higher-income Americans, who say it'll take an average $4.64 gas for them to drive much less, Westerners ($4.60; they're already paying the nation's highest prices); and men ($4.31).