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LIFESTYLE

Most Holiday Shoppers Plan To Spend Less On Gifts This Year

Americans are being a little less tight with their money this holiday season, but most still plan to spend less than they did a year ago.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 58% of Adults say they will spend less on gifts this year than they did last year. Just 13% expect to spend more this year, while 27% say their spending will be about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

That’s an improvement from this time last year when 71% planned to spend less, and only eight percent (8%) expected to spend more than they had during the previous holiday season. 

For a majority of Americans (67%), the bulk of their spending will go toward specific gifts for people rather than gift cards. Thirteen percent (13%), though, say they will spend more on gift cards than personal gifts, while 19% are still not sure what’s on their holiday shopping list yet.

The breakdown was about the same before Thanksgiving last year. 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. 

The survey of 1,000 Adults nationwide was conducted on November 20-21, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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