Poll shows gas prices pinching pocketbooks

High pump prices are pinching the pocketbooks of seven in 10 Americans, a financial hardship that more middle- and higher-income drivers say they are beginning to feel, an AP-Ipsos poll found.

With gasoline prices topping $3 a gallon for regular unleaded in many areas, people say they are driving less, cutting short vacations and curtailing their use of heating and air conditioning.

?Now, I?m just going to work and coming home ? not doing anything else,? said Kathleen Roberts, who makes a daily, 100-mile round trip from York, Pa., to her teaching job in Baltimore.

The number of people who expect rising gas prices to cause financial problems in the months ahead has jumped from 51 percent a year ago to 70 percent now, according to AP polling. This increase has been dramatic among people who earn more than $50,000.

These concerns are reflected in consumer confidence polling this past week by Ipsos, an international polling firm. Confidence dropped sharply and was the lowest since October, when the country was recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The average price nationally of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.92 on Friday, according to AAA, the motorists’ club. The record high of $3.05 was set on Labor Day, according to AAA.

When asked what would be a fair price for gasoline, many of those surveyed said $2 a gallon on average. That price has not been seen consistently for more than a year, AAA said.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said they have cut back on driving and have reduced the use of heating and air conditioning. One-half say they have trimmed vacation plans.

A year ago, four in 10 said they were considering getting a car with better mileage ? the same number who say that now, according to the AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.