Source: Gallup
Notes: Consumers are spending more on necessities such as groceries (55% spending more), utilities (45%) and healthcare (43%), with these being the three categories in which the largest percentage of survey respondents have increased their spending compared to a year ago, according to Gallup. Meanwhile, the bottom categories in terms of increased spending are retirement investments (17%), consumer electronics (18%) and travel (19%), suggesting, per Gallup, that “Americans continue to spend more on things they need, but not on things they want.”
In fact, of the bottom 6 categories in terms of net spending trends (where more respondents report decreasing than increasing spending), 5 are discretionary: leisure activities; clothing; consumer electronics; dining out; and travel.
Interestingly, 32% of respondents report spending more on cable or satellite as opposed to 14% spending less. Frustration over pay-TV costs may be spurring cord-cutting, or at least, the drive towards à -la-carte pricing.
Related: Asian and Hispanic Households “Worth More”
About the Data: Results for the Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 23-March 3, 2015, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 1,525 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±2.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
