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Poll: Inflation to take a bite out of holiday spending

Almost 60 per cent of North Shore residents say they'll be spending less
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
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Most North Shore residents say they'll be spending less this Christmas.Photo via Getty Images

It may be the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year" but with inflation running around 7 or 8 per cent, local readers say they're hitting a cash crunch when it comes to Christmas spending.

That's probably not surprising. With the cost of groceries, gas and mortgage rates soaring ever skyward, many people are finding they have less to spend on discretionary items, like Christmas presents.

Most local readers responding to a recent poll said inflation is likely to take a Scrooge-size bite of merrymaking this year.

North Shore News polled 1,849 North Shore News readers and asked the question: Is inflation likely to impact your holiday spending this year? Of the 1,849 votes, we can determine that 684 are from within the community.

Just over 58 per cent of locals responding to the online poll said they will likely be spending less money on the holidays this year, including buying fewer or less expensive gifts. Just over 39 per cent said inflation isn't likely to change what they spend. Interestingly two per cent said they plan to spend more this year.

The poll ran from Nov. 24 to Dec. 13. The full results are as follows:

Yes, I will likely be spending less money this year, including buying fewer or less expensive gifts. 58.33 % local, 61.17 % total    
No, it won't change my spending or buying habits much. 39.33 % local, 36.51 % total    
Yes, I plan to spend more money this year. 2.19 % local, 2.33 % total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers that are located in North Shore. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.27%, 19 times out of 20.

North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.