12/01/04 FOX Poll: More Concern About Spending Sprees Than Eating Sprees

As the gift-giving and party-going season hits its peak, a large minority of Americans says they are more concerned about their pocketbooks than their waistbands, according to a recent FOX News poll. Opinion is divided on how much will be spent on gifts, with about equal numbers saying spending will be greater as saying it will be less this year.

The poll finds that over four in 10 Americans (42 percent) are more concerned about how much money they will spend over the holidays, while about a quarter say they are more worried about how much weight they will gain. Ten percent say they are worried about both overspending and overeating, with one-in-five confidently saying neither makes them fret.

Opinion Dynamics Corporation conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News on November 16-17.

Among those groups most likely to say their concern is how much money they will spend are young people (50 percent), families with an income of less than $25,000 a year (49 percent), and liberals (47 percent).

Over a third of those living in high-income families (34 percent) say they are more worried about gaining weight than spending money, as are 31 percent of married women and 30 percent of conservatives.

There is no gender gap here, as men are only two points more likely than women to say they are concerned about how much money they will spend and women just four points more likely than men to say they are worried about how much weight they will gain.

Overall, a 39 percent plurality thinks people will spend more on gifts this year, 37 percent say less and 15 percent think spending will be about the same this year as last. These results are almost identical to polling conducted in November 2003.

More than half of Americans (55 percent) say they call the upcoming festive time in December the "Christmas Season,” while under a third (30 percent) use the more generic "Holiday Season” and 12 percent say they use both references.

• PDF: Click here for complete poll results