The Vast Majority of Americans Say Rising Costs Will Impact Thanksgiving

The rising cost of goods will impact the Thanksgiving holiday for the vast majority of Americans, a recent FinanceBuzz survey found.

Most Americans, 86 percent, said rising food costs will impact their Thanksgiving meal. This coincides with the reality of turkey — a staple of a traditional Thanksgiving meal — soaring in price, just in time for the holiday. Turkey and non-chicken poultry are up 16.9 percent, as are other Thanksgiving staples, including pie (up 18.6 percent), rolls and biscuits (up 13.6 percent), butter (up 26.7 percent), and gravy (up 14.6 percent), as Breitbart News reported. 

When asked how, specifically, the rising cost of food will impact Thanksgiving, most, 57 percent, said it will prompt them to look for sales at grocery stores, while 31 percent said they will use coupons more than usual. About 24 percent said they will buy cheaper ingredients, and 21 percent said they will shop at less expensive grocery stores altogether. One in five — 20 percent — said they “may cut back on food,” 15 percent said they will ask guests to bring more food, and 15 percent said they will have “fewer” guests. 

Only 14 percent said they do not expect rising prices to affect their Thanksgiving. But ultimately, the 86 percent of Americans who said rising prices will impact their holiday meal is up from the 63 percent who said the same last year.

The survey was taken in October among 1,500 U.S. adults.

It coincides with a recent Personal Capital survey, which found one in five Americans remain unsure if they will be able to cover the cost of the holiday meal this year in President Biden’s America. Further, one quarter said they will skip the holiday altogether this year:

The state of economic affairs in President Joe Biden’s America is affecting Americans’ holiday plans. According to the survey, one quarter of Americans are planning to skip Thanksgiving this year to save money, and one in five “doubted they would have enough money to cover the costs of Thanksgiving this year.”

More specifically, one-third expect their 2022 Thanksgiving dinner to be “smaller,” and 45 percent, overall, said they are “finically stressed” by Thanksgiving.

Further, Americans plan to take action to cut the cost of the celebration. Thirty-six percent plan to use coupons, 32 percent plan to compare prices, 28 percent will skip traveling, and another 28 percent plan to buy a smaller turkey. 

Following the midterm elections, when Republicans are expected to take the House, Biden stated clearly that he does not intend to do anything differently.

When Zeke Miller of the Associated Press asked the President what he planned “to do differently to change people’s opinion of the direction of the country,” Biden replied:

Nothing. Because they’re just finding out what we’re doing. The more they know about what we’re doing, the more support there is. Do you know anybody who wants us to get rid of the change we made on prescription drug prices and raise prices again? Do you know anyone who wants us to walk away from building roads and bridges and the Internet and so on? I do not know — I think that the problem is, the major piece of legislation that we passed, some of it bipartisan, takes time to be recognized.

In his question to Biden, Miller referenced that 75% of Americans feel the country is “headed in the wrong direction.”