Maui Now Reader Survey Results: Inflation and Cost of Living Top Concerns

NOTE: This is not a scientific survey, the results only reflect the opinions of survey respondents.

On Friday, Dec. 17, Maui Now released a survey asking its readers to share their opinions and attitudes toward current issues affecting Maui County from the omicron variant of the coronavirus including: inflation, real estate and employment.

Responses for the survey were collected for 14 days between Friday, Dec. 17 to Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. Announcements to the public to take the survey were posted on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the Maui Now website.

Maui Now received 234 verified responses with 94% identifying as Maui County residents and 6% identifying as non-residents.

Employment

A total of 53% of Maui Now survey respondents were employed, 7% unemployed and 40% identified as neither - as self-employed, retired, etc.

Despite the hardships brought on by the coronavirus, 20% of Maui Now readers started a new job and/or business in the last year.

Holiday Consumer Spending

Nearly half or 47% of Maui Now survey respondents spent less on holiday shopping this year compared to last year, 14% spent more and 38% spent the same as before.

A significant percentage, 47%, of Maui Now survey respondents chose to fulfill more of their holiday shopping online this year compared to last year. An estimated 12% of respondents shopped more in-stores and 41% spent about the same in-store and online.

Inflation

An estimated 57% of Maui Now survey respondents are very concerned about inflation, 36% are somewhat concerned, 5% are not very concerned, and 2% are not at all concerned.

An estimated 68% of Maui Now survey respondents had to reduce their discretionary spending because of increasing costs while 32% did not have to adjust their spending.

Travel

As for travel, 41% of Maui Now survey respondents are planning an out-of-state vacation in the next six months while 59% have no plans to travel out of Hawaiʻi.

Housing and Cost of Living

A strong percentage of Maui Now respondents are concerned about the cost of living on Maui with the majority feeling like local families are being priced out of Maui real estate.

Coronavirus

Concerns regarding the omicron variant of the coronavirus show mixed results among Maui Now survey respondents: 22% are very concerned, 34% are somewhat concerned, 17% are not very concerned and 27% are not at all concerned.

Government Coronavirus Policies

An estimated 48% of Maui Now readers approve of Maui County Mayor Mike Victorino's current coronavirus-related policies with 52% disapproving of the current policies.

The survey found that 45% of Maui Now readers approve of Hawaiʻi Governor David Ige's current coronavirus-related policies with 55% disapproving of his current policies.

To help ensure accuracy, all participants were required to verify their information by logging in through one of the following services: HubHawaii.com, Facebook, Amazon or Google. E-mail addresses were also compared for duplicates to ensure each surveyee receives only one vote.