PHOENIX — The price at the pump continues to rise and a recent poll of Arizonans found a majority of people don’t expect that to change soon.

Phoenix-based OH Predictive Insights’ poll, released Tuesday, show 83% of those surveyed earlier this month expect prices to be much higher or somewhat higher next month.

Arizona is among the most expensive states in the nation for gas, with the average being $4.61 per gallon, according to AAA. The nationwide average for a gallon of gas is $4.25, a bit of a drop after setting a record of $4.33 on March 11.

While a majority think the price of gas will still be higher a year from now, some do have hope the cost to fill up falls.

The poll found 50% of Arizonans believe the price of gas will be higher a year from now, while 23% expect the price to be lower and 20% think it will stay about the same.

“As pocketbook issues become more and more pressing to Arizonans, a majority of residents appear to be bracing themselves for the pain at the pump to continue into the next year,” Mike Noble, OHPI Chief of Research, said in a press release.

In an election year, when the price of gas could be a hot-button issue heading into the midterms, the poll found the numbers are fairly similar across political parties.

Of those polled, 90% of Republicans believe the price of gas will be higher in the next month compared to 81% for Democrats and 77% for independents.

Democrats and independents are a bit more hopeful for the future than Republicans, according to the poll.

The poll found 57% of Republicans believe the price of gas will be higher next year compared to 47% for independents and 44% for Democrats.

The online opt-in poll of 753 was conducted from March 7-15 and has a margin of error of 3.3%.

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