Gas prices aren’t hurting Americans’ summer plans … yet

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: Heading into spring and summer break-planning season during a short- or long-term gas crunch is… not ideal.

What we found: So far, higher gas prices do not seem to be affecting our plans, but I think it’s fair to put a “yet” on that statement and hedge a bit. We’ll have to come back to this topic as we get closer to summer.

As with last summer, more Americans are planning road trips over 100 miles (63%) than flying domestically (48%) or internationally (28%). There was a tiny dip in those saying they will go to a concert (43% down from 47%) and an even smaller uptick in those looking to “unplug” 64%. The good news for the travel industry is that a lot of people are still planning trips.

Majorities also plan one-off local splurges like going to a movie (60%) and dining out (89%) but as we noted above, those are often the first things cut when other parts of the budget go sideways, (like, say, gas prices.) So stay tuned, we’ll revisit this in a couple months.

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

Almost all Americans think gas prices have gone up and will get worse

Despite the hype, most don’t plan to watch any NCAA March Madness

Storage, privacy and a preference for brick-and-mortar are the biggest barriers for retail apps

Most Americans agree the government should regulate AI, but party splits emerge on how

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?