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Meaning & use

vote with your wallet

phrase·Advanced

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UK/ˌvəʊt wɪð jɔː ˈwɒlɪt/
US/ˌvoʊt wɪð jʊr ˈwɑːlɪt/

Meanings

  1. phraseidiom

    to show what you support by choosing where to spend your money and where not to.

    Grammar: Used as a verb phrase; the possessive pronoun changes with the subject: I vote with my wallet, she votes with her wallet.

    Patterns

    • vote with your wallet
    • vote with their wallets
    • vote with your feet

    If you dislike the company's policies, vote with your wallet and shop somewhere else.

    Many customers voted with their wallets and stopped buying the product after the price went up.

    She said she votes with her wallet, so she only buys from local farmers.

  2. phraseidiomfigurative

    to support or reject an idea, brand, or service by paying for it or refusing to pay for it.

    Grammar: Often used to talk about public opinion and consumer power, not about formal elections.

    Patterns

    • vote with your wallet for something
    • vote with your wallet against something

    People vote with their wallets for greener products when the price is reasonable.

    By cancelling his subscription, he voted with his wallet against the new fees.

Common combinations

vote with your wallet
Consumers can vote with their wallets by avoiding companies they disagree with.
vote with your feet
When the service got worse, customers voted with their feet and left.
consumer power
Consumer power means that everyday spending can change company behavior.
put your money where your mouth is
If you really believe in the project, put your money where your mouth is and invest.

Synonyms and how they differ

vote with your feet
This means leaving a place or organization to show disapproval, while 'vote with your wallet' is specifically about money and purchases.
boycott
A boycott is an organized refusal to buy from a company; 'vote with your wallet' is usually an individual, everyday choice.
support with your money
This is a plain phrase, not an idiom, and it does not carry the idea of sending a message by spending.

Commonly confused: vote with your wallet or vote with your feet?

vote with your wallet vs vote with your feet

This is about physically leaving or walking away, not about spending money. You can vote with your feet at a bad event, but you vote with your wallet at a shop.

Practice

If a shopper wants to show disapproval of a company by not buying its products, what can they do?

Make it your own

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