Do you ever wonder what our founding fathers would think of today’s presidential elections?

How would you explain to Thomas Jefferson that the item that would swing the most votes would be the price of gasoline? First, you would have to help him understand what cars and gasoline are, of course. And how gasoline is the equivalent of oats for horses in his day.

“Let me understand,” he might say. “Your candidates debate for twelve months? And your current president will have been in office for four years? Citizens will have had ample time to examine his policies? And he and his opponents will have spoken many times to voters? And you tell me the election will likely be decided by the price of oats? And the President has nothing to do with the price of oats? John Adams will never believe this. Ben Franklin will fall on the ground laughing.”

Indeed, it is hard to credit. But some pollsters recently discovered that the price at the pump will swing the most votes in the election. Millions of them. That is, people told pollsters they would vote for or against President Obama for no other reason than the price of gas.