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As the busiest shopping season looms, Americans have several ways to shop online, but smartphones have become a top way to do so. Roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults (76%) say they ever buy things online using a smartphone, while a somewhat smaller share (69%) say they ever make purchases via desktop or laptop computers. Far fewer Americans (28%) report ever buying things online on a tablet.
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Mobile phone shopping is especially common among adults under 50. Around nine-in-ten Americans ages 18 to 49 (91%) say they ever buy things online using a smartphone, compared with 69% of adults 50 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older.
Age gaps are modest when it comes to shopping on a tablet. Still, those ages 30 and older are more likely than those 18 to 29 to say they ever use a tablet to purchase things online (30% vs. 20%). Experiences shopping on a desktop or laptop computer do not statistically differ across age groups.
Online shopping habits also vary by household income. Across all three types of devices the survey asks about, adults with upper incomes are more likely than middle- and lower-income adults to say they use each device to make online purchases. This is most pronounced when looking at computer use: 86% of adults with higher incomes say they use a computer to buy things online, compared with 74% of those with middle incomes and about half (51%) of those with lower incomes.
There are also some differences by race and ethnicity. Asian (84%) or White (72%) adults are more likely to say they use a computer to buy things online than their Black (61%) or Hispanic (57%) counterparts. There are more modest racial and ethnic differences in purchasing things by smartphone, while similar shares of these racial and ethnic groups report online shopping on a tablet.
While there are no statistical gender differences when it comes to making online purchases via a smartphone or tablet, men are more likely than women to report buying things on a computer (72% vs. 66%).
About a third of U.S. adults (32%) say they use a smartphone to buy things online at least on a weekly basis, while 21% say the same for desktop or laptop computers. This figure drops to just 7% for shopping on tablets.
Americans in their 30s and 40s stand out when it comes to how often they use a smartphone to shop. Roughly half (49%) of those ages 30 to 49 say they make purchases online at least weekly using a smartphone, compared with 38% of those ages 18 to 29 and even smaller shares of those 50 and older.
Americans in upper-income households are more likely than those in middle- or lower-income households to report using a smartphone or a desktop or laptop computer to make online purchases on at least a weekly basis. When it comes to using tablets at least weekly to make purchases, there are no statistically significant differences by household income.
When asked whether they generally prefer to buy things online or from a physical store, 57% of U.S. adults say, given the choice, they prefer in-person shopping. A smaller share (38%) opt for an online experience.
Americans across most major demographic groups tend to express preferences for physical stores over online shopping, but this balance differs somewhat across groups. For example, adults under 50 are more likely than those 50 and older to say they generally prefer to buy online.
Companies are partnering with these influencers to reach consumers, with some estimating that brands are spending billions on influencer marketing. But how many Americans follow these types of tastemakers? And how much are their buying habits influenced by them?
Following influencers is correlated with age: 72% of 18- to 29-year-old social media users say they follow influencers or content creators, compared with 44% of those ages 30 to 49 and even smaller shares of those 50 to 64 (26%) or 65 and older (12%).
While there are modest gender differences overall, women social media users under 50 are more likely than their male counterparts in the same age range to say they follow influencers or content creators (60% vs. 47%).
Beyond age and gender, there are also differences by race and ethnicity. About six-in-ten Hispanic social media users (59%) say they follow influencers or content creators on these platforms, compared with 44% of Black users and a third of White users.
Income differences are fairly modest: 44% of social media users with lower incomes say they follow influencers, compared with 37% of those with higher incomes. Social media users in the middle-income category (39%) do not statistically differ from the other groups.
Not only do some social media users follow influencers, they are also turning to these accounts to inform their buying decisions. Three-in-ten adult social media users say they have purchased something after seeing an influencer or content creator post about it on social media. When looking only at users who follow these accounts, that number rises to 53%.
About four-in-ten social media users (39%) say influencers or content creators impact their decisions about what to purchase at least a little, but only 3% say these groups have a lot of impact on what they buy.
Younger social media users are the most likely to say influencers affect their purchasing habits: 54% of 18- to 29-year-old social media users say influencers impact their purchasing decisions a lot or a little. That share drops to 42% among users ages 30 to 49 and to 29% among those 50 and older.
Women who use social media are more likely to utilize influencer recommendations than are men. This is particularly true among young women: 62% of female social media users ages 18 to 29 say influencers or content creators affect what they purchase at least a little.
There are some racial and ethnic differences on this question as well, with Hispanic (48%) and Black users (43%) more likely than White users (33%) to say influencers affect their buying habits at least a little. There are no statistically significant differences by household income among social media users who say influencers have an impact on their decisions on what to purchase.
Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand how Americans view climate, energy and environmental issues, including views of electric vehicles. We surveyed 10,282 U.S. adults from May 2 to 8, 2022.
Overall, two-thirds of Americans support providing incentives to increase the use of electric and hybrid vehicles. Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party are much more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to say they favor incentives to increase the use of electric vehicles (84% to 46%).
A 55% majority of adults ages 18 to 29 say they are very or somewhat likely to consider an electric vehicle the next time they buy a vehicle. Smaller shares of adults ages 50 to 64 (34%) or 65 and older (31%) say the same.
Among Americans who say they are at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing an electric vehicle, large majorities say helping the environment (73%) and saving money on gas (71%) are major reasons. They are far less likely to say keeping up with the latest trends in vehicles is a major reason they would be likely to purchase an electric vehicle (10%).
When it comes to current rates of ownership, around one-in-ten U.S. adults (9%) say they currently own an electric or hybrid vehicle, slightly above the 7% of Americans who said the same in April 2021.
Overall, 55% of U.S. adults say they would oppose a proposal to phase out production of gasoline-powered cars and trucks by 2035, while 43% support the idea. Opposition today is slightly higher today than it was in April 2021, when 51% opposed and 47% favored the idea.
Democrats and Republicans (including those who lean to each party) continue to be deeply divided over whether to end the production of cars and trucks with internal combustion engines. About two-thirds of Democrats (65%) favor phasing out gasoline-powered cars and trucks by 2035. In contrast, just 17% of Republicans support the idea, while 82% oppose it.
Among Democrats, a large majority of liberals (77%) favor phasing out the production of new gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035. Moderate and conservative Democrats are more closely divided: 55% favor this idea, while 44% oppose it.
The Biden administration has taken steps aimed at ensuring that electric vehicles account for half of all new cars sold in the United States by 2030. While these vehicles continue to account for a relatively small share of all new car sales, the global electric vehicle market has seen growth over the past two years, and automakers like Ford Motor Co., General Motors and others are continuing to invest heavily in the technology.
The issue is especially acute in some Sun Belt states amid evidence that investors often can outbid other buyers, keeping starter homes out of the hands of would-be owners, especially suburban Black and Hispanic families. Some local officials in those states are pushing for increased regulation of investor purchases, but many Republican lawmakers oppose such controls.
Investors bought 24% of all single-family houses sold nationwide last year, up from 15% to 16% annually going back to 2012, according to a Stateline analysis of data provided by CoreLogic, a California-based data analytics firm. That share dipped only slightly in the first five months of 2022 to 22%.
Five states saw the highest share of investor purchases. Investors bought a third of single-family homes sold in Georgia (33%) last year, with Arizona (31%), Nevada (30%), California and Texas (both 29%) not far behind.
Investor ownership began to grow after the Great Recession of 2008-2009, when large swaths of overbuilt Sun Belt homes went into foreclosure, and investors snapped them up. Investor ownership grew again last year as pandemic-related demand for suburban housing rose, and investors saw a chance to win bidding wars with cash offers.
Across most states, investor purchases of homes spiked in 2021 and remained elevated in the early months of 2022. Investors made 29% or more of the home purchases last year in Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Nevada, and investor purchases doubled or more from 2020 for Florida, Nevada, Vermont and Washington. 041b061a72