- NYC Metro Confidence Dwarfs Upstate;
- Democrats 32 Points Higher than Republicans
- Buying Plans Strong, All Up from Last Summer;
- 79% Concerned about Grocery Costs
Press Release Summary Trends Buying Plans Gas and Food
Loudonville, NY – The New York State Index of Consumer Sentiment now stands at 73.5 down 1.5 points from the last measurement in the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest poll by the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI). New York’s overall Index of Consumer Sentiment is 9.1 points above the national* index of 64.4 despite a 2.4 point national increase. New York’s current index decreased 0.4 points to 69.7 and the future index decreased just over 2 points resulting in New York’s measure of future expectations moving from 78.1 last quarter to 75.9 today. Overall confidence remains higher in New York than across the nation. Future confidence in New York is now one point above the breakeven point of balanced optimism and pessimism and 14.4 points higher than national future confidence.
*National data compiled by the U. of Michigan * ( ) shows points above/below breakeven point at which sentiment is balanced
“Consumer sentiment dipped slightly across New York State this quarter, but the overall and future scores continue to outpace national sentiment. However, in New York scores vary wildly. New York City area consumers are more optimistic than pessimistic, exceed the national score by nearly 16 points and the NYC index is nearly 18 points higher than Upstate. Democrats’ index is over 10 points higher than the city and a whopping 32 points above Republicans across the state. Geography and politics matter when it comes to New Yorkers’ economic outlook. Despite declines in current demand for homes and home improvements, those buying plans as well as those for cars, electronics and furniture are all up between 2 and nine points from this time last year,” according to Don Levy, SCRI’s Director.
In the second quarter of 2023, across all categories but consumer electronics buying plans were down from the first quarter of 2023 measurement for homes at 12.6% (from 17.1%), for cars/trucks to 27.4% (from 28.2%), for furniture to 30.2% (from 30.8%), for major home improvements to 26.2% (from 28.0%), and for consumer electronics to 47.2% (from 45.0%).
Sixty-two percent (down from 63% last quarter) of all New Yorkers say that current gasoline prices are having a very serious or somewhat serious impact on their financial condition. Seventy-nine percent (down from 81% last quarter) of state residents indicate that the amount of money they spend on groceries is having either a very serious or somewhat serious impact on their finances. The previous all-time high for food concern was 80% in June 2022.
This Siena College Poll was conducted June 4 – 12, 2023, among 802 New York State Residents. Of the 802 respondents, 382 were contacted through a dual frame (landline and cell phone) mode and 420 respondents were drawn from a proprietary online panel (Lucid). Respondent sampling via phone was initiated by asking for the youngest person in the household. The overall results has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points including the design effects resulting from weighting when applied to buying plans and/or the perceived impacts of gas and food prices. As consumer sentiment is expressed as an index number developed after statistical calculations to a series of questions, “margin of error” does not apply to those indices. Telephone sampling was conducted via a stratified dual frame probability sample of landline (from ASDE Survey Sampler) and cell phone (from Dynata) telephone numbers from within New York State weighted to reflect known population patterns. Data from the telephone and web samples were blended and statistically adjusted by age, race/ethnicity, gender and party to ensure representativeness. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SCRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information or comments, please call Dr. Don Levy at 518-783-2901. Survey cross-tabulations and buying plans can be found at www.siena.edu/scri/cci.
Full table available on website: www.siena.edu/scri/cci
