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Suffolk University and The Boston Globe Conduct Exclusive Poll on Financial Crisis

Monday 29. September 2008 - Bay State Residents Tightening Belts Amid Fears for Economy, but Still Spending More

Bay State residents are taking a bleak view of the economy, a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll will reveal in tomorrow’s Boston Sunday Globe. By nearly a 2-to-1 margin, Massachusetts residents say they believe the economy will get worse by the end of the year.
Respondents also said they are cutting back on dining out (58 percent), travel (61 percent) and driving (49 percent). Yet their spending is up — likely a reflection of higher prices, including at the pumps.
“The poll results suggest Massachusetts residents are feeling strapped and have started hunkering down,” said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston. “We’re beginning to record some of the shockwaves from the meltdown in financial markets, and it could ripple through local hospitality, travel and other industries.”
Full contents of the Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll will appear in the Sept. 28, 2008 issue of the Boston Sunday Globe and be available online at www.boston.com/business and www.suffolk.edu at 12:00 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 28.
“We conducted this poll with Suffolk University as part of our comprehensive coverage of the U.S. financial crisis,” said Boston Globe business editor Shirley Leung. “We wanted a full picture of how the crisis is affecting households in Massachusetts to complement our coverage of companies and industry sectors.” The Globe’s complete coverage may be found at www.boston.com/business.
The Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll was conducted Sept. 22-24 and includes answers from 400 residents across the state. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percent.