Holiday Snapshots: Michigan Spends A Lot Less, Florida Needs To Get Going

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – except maybe in economically hard-hit Michigan and slow-to-get-started Florida.

Nationally, the sales numbers remain bleak, and 31% still haven’t begun shopping with Christmas only a few days away.

Beyond the national numbers, however, Rasmussen Reports is again taking a closer look at the findings on holiday shopping in four states around the country – this time in Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and Michigan.

With the Big Three automakers, perhaps Michigan’s most essential industry, begging for government assistance to stay in business, it’s no surprise that shopping numbers in the state lag well behind those nationally.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Americans plan to spend less on gifts this holiday season, but in Michigan that number is 73%. Just eight percent (8%) of Michigan shoppers plan to spend more this year than last, compared to 11% nationwide. While nationally 19% plan to spend the same amount this year as last year, only 17% intend to do so in Michigan.

In Michigan, 16% of unmarried adults plan to spend more, compared to four percent (4%) of marrieds.

Florida compares unfavorably to the national numbers in those who plan to spend less this year (70%) and those who plan to spend the same (15%). But 14% plan to spend more, which is three points higher than the national figure.

In Massachusetts, shoppers best the national numbers in two out of three spending categories. As in Michigan, only eight percent (8%) plan to spend more, but just 65% plan to spend less and 25% intend to spend the same amount, topping the national number by six points.

Georgia shoppers are at or better than the national figures in all three cases, with 11% spending more, 64% spending less and 23% the same amount.

In all four states, men plan to outspend women. Even in hard-pressed Michigan where 79% of women plan to spend less this year, only 66% of men intend to do the same.

On Tuesday, consumer and investor confidence as measured by the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor indexes once again fell to record lows.

Maybe the warm weather is fooling them about the time of year, but Florida shoppers are well behind the others in getting started. Just 52% of adults in the Sunshine State have started their holiday shopping, compared to 66% nationwide.

Figures for Georgia (65%), Massachusetts (64%) and Michigan (65%) are all comparable to the national number.

The same goes for those who haven’t started their holiday shopping yet. That number is 31% nationally, with Georgia (30%), and Massachusetts (32%) right on target.

Shoppers in Michigan (33%) are slightly behind, but in Florida, 41% have yet to begin.

While 60% of women in Florida have begun shopping, men are evenly divided between those who’ve started and those who haven’t. But men there also have a very slight edge over women among those who have finished shopping.

In every state but Georgia, men are slower getting started than women by several percentage points. Among adults in Massachusetts, for example, 73% of women have started versus 56% of men. But in the Peach State, 32% of women haven’t started their holiday shopping yet versus just 27% of men.

All four states lag behind the national figures in terms of those who have finished their holiday shopping, and it’s not clear whether that’s a glimmer of hope for suffering retailers.

Nationally, 29% of adults say they have finished their shopping, while 67% still have some to do. In Michigan, 80% are unfinished, and only 19% are done.

Things aren’t much better in Georgia and Massachusetts. Nineteen percent (19%) of Georgia shoppers are finished, but 76% have shopping to do. Among adults in the Bay State, 18% have their purchases completed, while 77% do not.

Florida shoppers may be late off the mark, but they’re efficient. Twenty-three percent (23%) are done with their shopping, with 68% undone, by far the closest of the four states to the national figures. In Florida, men and women shoppers are nearly identical in both categories.

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