We were personally surprised that nearly 7 our of 10 (69.0%) people said they are going to drive less over the summer because of gas prices. That suggests this has moved from "annoyance" to a meaningful hit on people's pocketbooks. That is further shown by the 59% of people who say they are postponing other purchases because of high gas prices. That suggests this could trickle down and impact all of us.
The other part that surprised us was the right track/wrong track questions. We speculated that rural areas (where job growth is typically a struggle) would be pessimistic and the Triangle and Charlotte would be optimistic, but it didn't turn out that way. First off, the state is evenly divided on right track/wrong track. We thought the right track number would've been higher.
More surprising: While the Triangle is the most optimistic, the Charlotte area was the least optimistic about the state's overall direction. 57.8% of Triangle residents said the state was on the right track, while only 34.4% of Charlotte area residents agreed. (55.8% in Charlotte said the state was on the wrong track.) We're not sure what's going on in Charlotte to reflect that.
Finally, people are cautious to pessimistic about future job, income and savings, but they are generally optimistic about their personal prospects.
Read the actual questions asked here.
See which counties are included in which regions here.
Read the full press release here.
Tell us what you think:
- Are gas prices impacting your budget?
- Do you think the state's on the right track or wrong track?
- What's the mood in Charlotte?
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