WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers plan to increase their holiday spending over last year, according to a recent survey conducted by CUNA and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).
The 14th annual holiday spending survey found that the percentage of consumers who said they would spend more than in 2012 rose to 13% from 12% last year.
Meanwhile, the percentage who said they would spend less declined to 32% from 38% in 2012. These changes continue the trend this survey reported 2011, when 8 percent of respondents said they would spend more and 41 percent said they would spend less.
Consumers' plans to increase holiday spending this year is consistent with- — and could reflect — perceived improvement in their personal financial situations, according to the study.
The five percentage point gap between respondents who said their financial situation was better (24%) and those who said it was worse (29%) was the smallest since CFA and CUNA began asking this question in 2009. Two years ago, this gap was 18 percentage points (19% better vs. 37% worse).
"The survey suggests that holiday spending will increase at least as fast as last year," said Bill Hampel, CUNA's chief economist. "It is also encouraging that fewer Americans see their economic status as worsening, despite on-going federal budget issues in Washington."
The survey was administered to a representative sample of adult Americans by ORC International. This year, 1002 persons were interviewed by telephone (landline or cell phone) between Nov. 7-10. The survey's margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
