Last Friday, we asked readers what their #1 fear for the U.S. economy.

These were the results:

• Europe collapsing: 20%
• A China hard landing: 2%
• Gasoline prices: 8%
• A war in Iran: 15%
• Fiscal tightening in 2013: 5%
• Premature monetary tightening: 2%
• Surprise inflation: 5%
• Political dysfunction: 12%
• A terrorist attack in the US: 1%
• A 1987-like market crash: 4%
• A debt crisis in the US: 17%
• A debt crisis in Japan: 1%
• Other: 8%

A Euro collapse was the clear leader. Gasoline prices were only selected by 8% of voters.

Well now today we ran the exact same poll. And check out the results:

• Europe collapsing 13%
• A China hard landing 5%
• Gasoline prices 14%
• War with Iran 12%
• Fiscal tightening in 2013 4%
• Premature monetary tightening 1%
• Surprise inflation 7%
• Political dysfunction 13%
• A terrorist attack in the US 1%
• A 1987-like crash 3%
• A debt crisis in the US 22%
• A debt crisis in Japan 0%
• Other 6%

Just like that, gas prices have shot up to the number 2 spot, with 14 percent of the people selecting it as their #1 fear: A gain of 6 points. European collapse fears have receded dramatically. A U.S. debt crisis comes in bizarrely high, just like last time. We’re not going to read too much into this, except that there’s a certain faction of the public that’s always obsessed with this.

Bottom line though: Gas is the new Europe.

Source