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Poll: Most Consumers Will Spend Less This Holiday Season

Just days before Black Friday, a new poll shows most consumers will be spending less this holiday season. The Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll found just 6 percent plan to spend more than last year.

According to poll results, more than 90 percent of Massachusetts shoppers will spend the same amount of money or less during the holidays.

David Paleologos of Suffolk University says it's not just holiday spending — consumers are also traveling less and eating out less, too.

"It's not that we carved out just a group of people who only care about the economy. That is what is happening. That is what is on people's minds," Paleologos says.

But the Massachusetts Retailers Association last week predicted sales to rise 4 percent, and the group's president, Jon Hurst says that prediction still stands.

"Impulse buys really are very powerful and make up about a third of all retail sales," Hurst says.

"If people who are telling us in this survey that they're not going to spend more, but then they suddenly change their mind when they're in the store, then perhaps both our poll and their forecast could be right," Paleologos says.

Numbers on actual consumer spending are expected in January.

This program aired on November 22, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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