Americans Not Spending, Don’t Plan To: Harris Poll

Results of a Harris Poll released Monday showed that, regardless of any positive indicators in the rest of the economy, Americans weren’t buying it. In fact, they’re not buying much of anything, nor did they plan to.

In the seventh incarnation of poll questions related to spending that Harris has conducted since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008, people have not changed their feelings much about spending or the probability that they will have more money to spend on things like computers, vacations, or moving to a new residence. Most results, according to Harris, are pretty much unchanged for the last 18 months.

Nearly two thirds of respondents say that they expect to spend less on eating out (66%)—not good news for the restaurant industry—and entertainment (62%)—not good news for theaters and other amusements.