Gas prices, the border, religion: Fact checking 5 things Trump said during Georgia visit
Former President Donald Trump made an appearance in Middle Georgia Wednesday as campaigning on both sides of the political aisle ramps up before Nov. 5.
Trump’s visit, which was to hold a town hall at Christ Chapel in Zebulon, was ostensibly to discuss religion but also veered into border security, inflation and other major campaign issues which he has harped on repeatedly.
However, not everything Trump said was accurate. Here’s a look at some of the claims he made, and what the facts have to say.
Gas and energy prices
Inflation and energy have been major features of Trump’s campaign, often appearing together in his maxim, “Drill, baby, drill,” referencing his desire to produce more oil in the U.S.
During his Zebulon town hall, Trump said he would lower energy prices by increasing drilling in the U.S. in response to a question about inflation. Trump claimed that this would lower energy prices, and help lower costs for businesses and homeowners.
However, experts say that lowering costs isn’t that simple. The coronavirus pandemic disrupted supply chains for sand and steel, according to NPR, which are essential to oil production.This caused gas prices to hit historic highs in 2022.
Additionally, oil is an internationally traded commodity, meaning its price is determined by a wide variety of factors that are often beyond the president’s control, NPR’s reporting said.
The international market doesn’t want the price of oil to drop too low for fear of losing money, and experts say that if the U.S. were to increase its oil production, other oil-producing countries may just ramp down their supplies. This would mean very little change in gas prices.
On the topic of gas prices, Trump claimed at his Zebulon town hall that the average gas prices were over “five, six, seven dollars” a gallon under President Joe Biden, and that under him the average price of gas was $1.40 a gallon.
According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the highest gas prices under Biden came in June 2022 when the average price of gas in the U.S. hit $5.03 a gallon. Gas prices never went over six or seven dollars. The current average price of gas is about $3.34.
Those same statistics show that the lowest average gas price under Trump was $2.34 in January 2019. Prices have not been at or under $1.40 since March 2002.
Border security
Border security featured prominently during Trump’s visit to Zebulon, with the former president saying border security is “the single most important issue.”
“They allow murderers into our country, they allow prisoners into our country, they empty out their prisons into our country from all over the world,” Trump said, referring to what he sees as President Joe Biden’s approach on border security. “And to me it’s the biggest problem, I think it’s the number one thing, and we’re going to do something to stop it.”
Trump claimed his administration built “hundreds of miles of wall.”
The total number of border wall miles built under Donald Trump varies based on how it’s counted. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protections data, Trump’s administration built a total of 458 miles. However, that same data shows that the vast majority of those miles were replacing existing barriers that were small and dilapidated, and did not add to the total length of barriers along the border.
Trump’s administration built about 52 miles of new primary border barriers — or the first barriers people reach if they’re trying to cross the southern border.
Trump also claimed during his remarks that his administration was “the most successful” at decreasing illegal border crossings, and presented a chart to the audience that has repeatedly been disputed and shown to have misleading information by fact-checkers.
While presenting the chart to the crowd, he boasted about a low point in illegal border crossings which he claimed was his last day in office. That day there were 16,182 apprehensions at the border, but it was not Trump’s last day in office. The statistic comes from April 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when most of the world ground to a halt.
Illegal border crossings actually increased under Trump. In fiscal year 2017, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protections, the total number of apprehensions at the border was about 415,500. By fiscal year 2019, that number had more than doubled to about 977,500.
Christians voting
Returning to religion, Trump said Christians vote at low rates in response to a question about what he would say to Christians before they head to the polls.
“Christians are not tremendous voters,” Trump said. “If they were, we would never lose an election.”
According to an analysis by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, practicing Christians are more likely to vote compared to other eligible voters.
While white evangelical Christians do often vote Republican, with 8 in 10 white evangelicals supporting Trump in his 2020 bid, other Christian groups are more complicated.
Out of people who attended church services for any denomination monthly or more often, the Pew Research Center found 59% supported Trump while 40% supported Biden in 2020. That data also showed Black Christians overwhelmingly supported Biden, with 90% if Black people who attend services monthly or more often voting for the president.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 1:35 PM.