Largely it's because public transit basically doesn't exist once you get outside cities that have a population of at least 750k - 1mil. So the price of gas going up increases the price of everything you do because the only feasible/safe option is to drive yourself everywhere.

Yes that is exactly why. America is almost completely reliant on cars for transportation, due to suburban sprawl commutes are often an hour+ both ways, and many Americans are at or over budget already and so are very sensitive to relatively small transportation price increases.

I don't drive a gas guzzler, either. But with European gas prices, every cent counts.

Only if they can pay for it