Poll: Black Friday Holiday Shopping

This week, we look at Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving which has become the traditional and unofficial start of the Holiday Shopping Season.

We find that the shopping season actually began before Black Friday and that two-thirds of Americans say they will not shop this year on Black Friday. We interview a business reporter from the Wall Street Journal who tells us that the economy is scaring shoppers, so retailers are changing their marketing strategy for Black Friday. And our pollster, Scott Rasmussen, analyzes the impact of the recession on this year’s shopping season.

FOX's Brenda Flanagan reports.

National Survey of 1,000 Adults
Conducted November 18-19, 2009
By Rasmussen Reports

1* How likely are you to shop on “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving?

17% Very likely
17% Somewhat likely
33% Not very likely
32% Not at all likely
2% Not sure

2* When shopping during this holiday season what is your preferred method of payment….cash, check, debit card, credit card or layaway?

37% Cash
5% Check
27% Debit card
25% Credit card
3% Layaway
3% Not sure

3* Do you plan on spending more, less or about the same amount for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner?

9% More
42% Less
47% About the same
3% Not sure

4* This Thanksgiving are you more thankful, less thankful or about as thankful as last Thanksgiving?

53% More thankful
11% Less thankful
35% About as thankful
2% Not sure

5* After your “family and health” what are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving….your job, your community, your religious faith or your country?

19% Job
6% Community
41% Religious faith
15% Country
14% Something else
4% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence