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Over the last two months, the price of oil has declined nearly 28%, falling from a record high of $147.22 to Friday’s closing price of $106.23.Â Likewise, the price of gasoline has declined more than 11%, falling from a record high of $4.12 to today’s average price of $3.65.

These price declines have come as a relief for many Americans, as they have helped ease the pain at the pump and pushed down inflation in general.

However, as welcome as these price declines have been, some drivers believe they’re coming about due to reasons beyond supply and demand or economic weakness.

According to a recent poll on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, nearly half of us feel that the prices of oil and gasoline are being manipulated leading up to the November Presidental election.

The poll asked: Do you believe gas and oil prices are being manipulated for the upcoming Presidental election? Here’s how the responses broke down:

49% believe prices ARE being manipulated

being manipulated 44% believe prices ARE NOT being manipulated

being manipulated 7% are UNSURE if prices are being manipulated

This is up slightly from the 2006 elections, when 42% of Americans said they believed oil and gas prices were being manipulated leading up to the elections.Â I guess with the price of oil being double and the price of gas up 75% since the 2006 election, it would make sense that slightly more Americans believe there is some sort of manipulation going on.

Lower oil and gasoline prices would probably help the Republicans – i.e. John McCain – since much of the Democratic platform – i.e. Barack Obama – is built on improving the economy and pushing alternative energy.Â Lower prices would help to keep the economy from getting much worse, and would push back the need for altnerative energy, at least from an economic standpoint.

With this in mind, the notion of price manipulation comes in because, over the years, the Republican party has been accused of being very pro Big Oil and, in turn, Big Oil has been very pro Republican party.

Based on contributions made to each party, it’s obvious Big Oil prefers that Republicans be in elected positions.Â According to figures compiled by OpenSecrets.org – the website of the Center of Responsive Politics, a group that tracks campaign donations and funding – since 1990, for every dollar contributed by Big Oil, roughly 75 cents has gone to the Republican party.

Donations to Republicans – $166,126,945

Donations to Democrats – $54,376,295

Despite these figures, I find it very hard to believe that Big Oil is manipulating the oil and gasoline markets.Â It’s one thing to contribute (a lot) more money to one party, but would it really be worth manipulating an entire market for the sake of said party?

Think about it.Â Regardless of who’s in office, we’re not going to stop using oil or gasoline any time soon, and prices and profits are still going to remain high.Â That’s all Big Oil really wants.

Plus, in today’s day and age of investigative reporting and 24 hour news networks, if a conspiracy like this did exist, someone would find out about it.

So, at the end of the day, it seems far more likely that the recent price declines have more to do with the natural ebb and flow of the usual price cycles and far less to do with some sort of price manipulation conspiracy.