(The Center Square) – Inflation has been worse than expected for more than half of North Carolinians, according to a recent High Point University poll.
About 53% of 1,006 respondents to an online survey by the High Point Survey Research Center said inflation over the past few months has been worse than they expected, compared to 25% who said it was about what they expected, and 17% who claim it wasn’t as bad as they expected.
The poll found 87% of residents surveyed said they’ve changed their spending based on inflation concerns, including 52% who said those concerns affected a lot of their spending decisions. Only 11% told pollsters their inflation concerns had not significantly affected them.
“Since June 2022, inflation has been falling,” said Brandon Dragone, visiting instructor of economics at the university. “However, inflation is still higher than a year ago and certainly higher than recent memory. So, even though inflation is trending down, it may still be some time before prices become what we are accustomed to being stable.
“The Federal Reserve is still increasing interest rates to combat inflation,” he said, “though now the concerns is how these continued interest rate hikes might affect the rest of the economy.”
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday issued a report that showed prices up 5% in December from the same month in 2021, which was down 0.5% from November’s 5.5% year-over-year increase.
The easing inflation, with December’s numbers are the third consecutive monthly decrease, comes as consumer spending fell 0.2% between November and December, double the 0.1% revised decrease between October and November.
The High Point poll questioned how the prices North Carolinians are paying now compared to last year. The majority cited much higher prices for eggs (74%), meat (63%) and gas (59%). Fewer than half of respondents identified other items: fruits and vegetables (47%), natural gas (45%), food and service at restaurants (45%), milk (45%), bread (39%), home renovation (39%), health care (37%), electronics (36%), and automotive repair (34%).
Less than a third of respondents pointed to higher prices for food delivery (30%), appliance repair (29%), plumbing (28%), online purchases (26%), and internet access (25%).
“Eggs and meat have surpassed gas for cars as what North Carolinians are telling us that they are paying more for now compared to a year ago,” HPU Poll Associate Director Brian McDonald said. “Despite feeling like they are paying more for foods and other services, a majority of respondents are not canceling or delaying their health care.”
The poll found 64% of respondents have not canceled any health care appointments over concerns about high costs, while 56% said they had not delayed health care services over the last year due to prices.
The HPU Poll has a “creditability interval” of 3.3%.
