No sensationalism, just facts and context. 
People’s politics are changing the way they shop — and where
People’s politics are changing the way they shop — and where
In the last few months since the election, more than 40% of consumers said they’ve changed their spending habits to align with their morals, according to a new Harris Poll.
A quarter of shoppers have stopped buying from their favorite brands. And about a third said they have no interest in supporting the economy this year and are looking for ways to opt out.
More Democrats said they’ve changed their spending habits recently than Republicans, according to the Harris Poll.
Timothy Werner, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin’s McCombs School of Business, said that makes sense given who’s in power in Washington.
“During the first Trump administration there was a campaign called #GrabYourWallet” — to try to get people to not spend money at any companies associated with Trump — “and you saw no kind of dynamic that was on the other side being supportive of him,” said Warner.
When people are angry with a company over its politics, he said it’s typical for them to stop shopping there, at least for a while. Whereas, when people support a company’s politics, they aren’t as likely to shop there more.
The NAACP issued a “Black Consumer Advisory” over the weekend urging Black consumers to prioritize businesses that have doubled down on DEI initiatives instead of canceling them. Economic boycotts are increasingly common, said Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability.
“As our politics have become much more polarized and much sharper, you have consumers now who are taking a look very closely at what companies are involved with,” said Freed.
The idea of opting out of the economy entirely, though? That feels new, at least to Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema.
“Just stepping back for a second and thinking about how important consumerism is to America’s [gross domestic product], you know, it’s 70 cents on the dollar,” said Gerzema.
So if a third of consumers were to stop spending, even just for a little while, he said — that could have a big impact.
But Timothy Werner at UT Austin said it probably won’t.
“Especially as attention spans shorten and news cycles shorten, the effects of these things are really very short lived,” said Werner.
And, for businesses, getting involved in politics through donations and lobbying is often worth it.
“Companies who spend more on lobbying secure more government contracts, they pay lower effective tax rates, they generally benefit from lighter touch regulation,” said Werner.
That can affect their bottom line in a way consumer boycotts rarely do.
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