Higher prices are forcing Americans to cut back on holiday presents this year, a new poll has found.
A total of 41 percent of Americans plan to spend less on presents this year, CNBC reported.
That’s a six-point jump compared to 2024 and the most significant increase since the 2022 inflation surge, according to the new CNBC All-America Economic Survey,
Of those who reported they would be spending less, 46 percent said the reason was the “high cost of goods,” a 10-percent increase from last year’s survey.
The survey results come as almost half of Americans say the cost-of-living crisis is the worst they’ve ever seen, with voters increasingly blaming President Donald Trump’s policies.
Only 16 percent of respondents in the CNBC poll said they planned to spend more, but even then, it wasn’t because they were earning more or because they thought the economy was in good shape.
In a new twist, among those spending more this year, 36 percent pointed to high prices as the reason for their increase, an 11-point jump compared to 2024, according to CNBC.
This is the first year that higher prices were found to contribute meaningfully to both increased and decreased spending, CNBC reported.
The survey found that 60 percent of the public was pessimistic about the current state of the economy, the highest level since 2023.
Even a majority of Republicans, or 53 percent, now rate the economy as just fair or poor.
Trump, however, appears in denial about the problem even as his approval ratings have cratered over his administration’s failure to rein in the cost of living.
The president has insisted that the affordability crisis is a “hoax” and a “con job.”
A new AP-NORC poll released last week found that Trump’s approval rating on the economy was just 31 percent, with his overall approval rating hovering at 36 percent.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published over the weekend, the president blamed voters for not yet understanding that he had “created the greatest economy in history.”
“It may take people a while to figure all these things out,” he said. The White House is convinced the economy will take off next year thanks to the “big beautiful” budget bill Trump signed over the summer.
In the meantime, the president has launched a national tour to try to convince voters his economic policies are working, though he’s struggled to stay on message.
“You can give up certain products,” he told supporters in Pennsylvania last week. “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The post Americans Say They Can’t Afford Holiday Gifts Under Billionaire Trump appeared first on The Daily Beast.
