Making Christmas Great Again: Trump Supporters Poised to Spend More on Holiday Shopping, While Harris Voters Cut Back

According to a new report, President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters are poised to outspend Kamala Harris voters this holiday season.

Since the election, shopping volumes have been surging in red states and scaling back in blue states — a sign that his supporters are feeling pretty good about the economy’s future.

CNBC reports:

CNBC analyzed shipping trends in red and blue states and spoke with shoppers in Texas, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina and Virginia to better understand how the 2024 presidential election results could influence the holiday shopping season.

People who voted for President-elect Donald Trump were overwhelmingly positive about the future of the economy, while supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris were more pessimistic, concerned that the incoming president’s policies could make things harder on the middle class. In a world where sentiment drives purchasing decisions, these differences in opinion could shape how much people end up spending this holiday season.

For example, Harris voter Amanda Davila, a 30-year-old New York City educator, told CNBC she’s planning to spend less on the holidays this year and is “trying to be more cautious” about spending in the leadup to Trump taking office in January.

“I’m worried about my own student loans and whether things will be taken out of forbearance, how much I’m going to be owing if the SAVE Plan [for student loan repayment] goes away and things like that,” Davila told the outlet. “It’s very hard being a millennial and having to worry about buying a house, affording groceries, rent, all that stuff. With our income, it’s not enough for everything these days.”

On the other hand, Armando Duarte, a Trump-supporting 62-year-old retired utility worker from Fort Lee, New Jersey, told CNBC that he is feeling good about holiday shopping this year.

“I’m optimistic that people are going to feel a little bit more encouraged to spend because they may feel that the economy might be on the mend and coming back,” said Duarte. “I think things are going to really pick up for the better … I think that inflation is going to come down. Jobs are good, but they’re going to get a lot better, and hopefully wages are going to go up, and people are going to be able to afford to just basically live.”

Experts confirmed the outlet’s hypothesis, saying that online shopping trends have confirmed that red states are spending more this season.

“If they feel optimistic about what comes ahead, then they are willing to spend more, even if it is on a credit card, knowing or expecting that they’re going to have the money to then pay it off,” Meir Statman, an expert in behavioral finance and a professor at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, said. “So the general optimism of Republicans, on the whole, is likely to affect their spending. We know that sentiment generally affects what people do, including spending, and conversely, it might depress, of course, the sentiment of Democrats, and in all likelihood, negatively affect their spending.”

The report explains, “In GOP-won states, shipping volumes increased by 50.4% after the election, while Democrat-won states saw volumes decrease by an average of 11.2%. Only two blue states — Illinois and Minnesota — saw shipping volumes increase after the election, while all others saw rates fall.”

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