Expected Christmas Spending in 2010 compared to the past four years

 

In the first graph there is a negligible difference in the amount of money people were estimated spending between 2006 and 2007. Between 2007 and 2008 however, there was a dramatic drop of $108 dollars, followed by a $61 drop in 2009. This year shoppers are expected to spend $715, only a $15 decrease from 2009. Although these numbers seem insignificant, the second graph is a survey asking if they spent more, less, or about the same. What I found interesting in this poll was not the % of people who spend more than the average Americans, but the 16% increase in people who said they paid less in 2008 and also in 2008 a 12% decrease in people who said they paid about the same. From 2008 to the estimates for 2010, the percentage of people who surveyed spending less and spending about the same decrease and increase at about the same rate.