Inflation has affected the winter travel plans of more than 7 in 10 voting-age Americans as Election Day approaches, according to a survey that the personal finance website WalletHub published Wednesday.
The findings suggest most adults are struggling to cover skyrocketing prices, said Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst.
He called that reality a “common disconnect between macroeconomic indicators and individual experiences.”
“This cognitive dissonance arises because people tend to evaluate their well-being based on immediate, personal financial conditions rather than macroeconomic trends,” Mr. Lupo said in an email. “As a result, even in a growing economy, if individuals are struggling financially because of inflation or stagnant wages, they may perceive the economy as failing them.”
WalletHub also found that 49% of surveyed adults said they still had credit debt from last winter’s holiday travel.
But 52% of those surveyed said winter travel was worth the annual debt, and 58% said they preferred to spend money on travel instead of shopping.
The survey comes as the cost of everyday goods, food and services has shot up since President Biden took office in 2021.
Multiple polls show the issue is a top concern for voters as Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump contend for the presidency on Nov. 5.
According to the latest federal data, the annual inflation rate slowed to 2.4% last month, the lowest level since February 2021.
But prices remain much higher, with eggs, bread and gasoline up 40% since January 2021.
The economy is the only issue most voters say is “extremely important” in the presidential election, according to Gallup polling released this month.
The 52% who said as much is the highest Gallup has recorded since 55% of registered voters expressed the same sentiment in October 2008, when a recession helped propel Democrat Barack Obama to victory a month later.
Marcus Witcher, a professor of economic history at West Virginia University, said the WalletHub survey confirms that paying much more for everything has had a larger “psychological effect” on voters than positive economic messaging from the Biden-Harris administration and news media.
“While the rates of price increases have decreased, the reality is that prices are still considerably higher than they were three to four years ago,” said Mr. Witcher. “So even though inflation has declined to where it is closer to historical averages, people still remember what things cost three to four years ago, and it was a lot less.”
As prices have risen, real wages have stagnated, and multiple reports have found Americans burning through their savings and racking up credit debt to keep pace. Credit card debt is up 42% since Mr. Biden took office.
“If wage growth doesn’t keep pace with rising prices, people’s purchasing power effectively decreases, which leads to individual financial strain despite broader economic improvements,” said Mr. Lupo, the WalletHub analyst.
The WalletHub survey found that 37% of adults didn’t have a savings fund for winter travel this year. An additional 54% planned to apply for a new credit card to help pay for it.
It also found that 46% of adults expect to spend more on winter travel this year than last year compared with 42% who plan to pay the same amount and 12% who pledge to spend less.
Will Luther, an economics professor at Florida Atlantic University, said the findings illustrate recent data showing that salaries haven’t kept up with “permanently elevated” prices.
He noted that inflation-adjusted wages have grown by just 0.4% since the pandemic compared with an average annual increase of 1.9% before it.
“Employees have had to engage in costly, unpleasant negotiations just to break even,” Mr. Luther said. “And they have struggled to do even that. It’s not difficult to see why workers are frustrated with this economy.”
WalletHub conducted a randomized national survey of nearly 220 adults from Sept. 16-20. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.38 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
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