A new Harris Poll on consumer spending and saving, using questions that have been asked eight times since the financial and economic crisis began, shows some very small increases in the number of people who say they are likely to spend their money on various big ticket and other purchases. These are consistent with several recent reports of modest increases in consumer sentiment and spending. This poll also shows a very small decrease in the numbers of people who are saving or investing more money. However all of these very small changes could be the result of sampling and other errors that can affect all surveys.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,566 adults surveyed online between January 17 and 24, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

Some of the more interesting results of this poll are:

•The percentage of all adults who report that they are likely to save or invest more money in the next six months has dropped very slightly from 52% in surveys in 2010 to 49%, the lowest number since November 2008;

•Those who say they will decrease their spending on eating out at restaurants have dropped very modestly from 66% last September to 63% now. There has been a similar three point drop in those who are likely to reduce spending on entertainment, from 62% in September to 59% now;

•Those who say they are likely to take a vacation away from home lasting more than a week have increased from 31% in September to 36%;

•Those who expect to move to another residence have increased from 17% in September to 21% now, the highest number we have recorded in the eight polls when we have asked these questions (however we do not know their reasons for any planned moves);

•Those who expect to buy a new car, truck or van (14%) have increased from 12% last September; and,

•Those who expect to buy a boat or an RV have increased from 3% last May and 6% last September to 7%.

So What?

These very small changes in the public's spending expectations could be the result of sampling and other errors than can occur in all surveys. Under other circumstances we might not be so willing to suggest that these are real changes. But, over the last two months there have been more than a few other indicators that consumer sentiment, and other leading economic indicators, are improving modestly. If that is correct, these are the kinds of small changes we would expect to find in our polls and we believe that these changes are probably real.