Inflation looks to be sapping some of Americans’ holiday cheer as they head out to buy gifts this Christmas season, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey.
The survey found the “high cost of goods” has emerged as a major factor affecting how much shoppers spend and where they spend, suggesting inflation of the past several years and the rise in import goods prices from tariffs are being felt at the checkout counter.
The survey of 1,000 people nationwide, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%, found that the high cost of goods is the top reason Americans are spending less and, in a first for the survey, the main reason they are spending more.
Among those spending less, 46% say it’s because of the high cost of goods, a 10-point increase from the 2024 survey. Even more striking, 36% of those spending more say it’s because of high prices, an 11-point increase from last year. The past six years, most Americans said they spent more because they were earning more and the economy was in good shape; they tended to spend less because they earned less or felt the economy was weak.
“Almost 70% say that prices are higher now, and it’s affecting people both who are spending more and who are spending less in a much bigger way than it ever has,” says Jay Campbell, partner at Hart Research, the Democratic pollster for the survey.
