Of poll respondents, 54% reported the same or higher sales volume year-to-date compared to last year, said Matthew K. Harding, Levin’s president and CEO. (In the 2011 pre-holiday survey, 56% percent had reported equal or higher sales than in 2010.)

Also this year, 51% of respondents said that store traffic is the same or higher than at this time last year.

“While the sales numbers skew slightly negative from last year, we do not see this change as significant,” said Matthew K. Harding, Levin’s president and CEO. “It is positive that more tenants are seeing the same or higher 2012 sales and traffic than those that are not.”

U.S. Department of Commerce figures for retail and food services sales indicate the same sort of modest progress over the past two years across the country, he noted. In October, national sales dropped slightly from the previous month, but were up 3.8% year-over-year.

He cited other national surveys that buttress the sense of optimism among Levin’s tenant base: Deloitte’s projection that holiday sales will climb 3.5-4 5 over 2011; the National Retail Federation’s forecast of a 4% rise in holiday sales; and the International Council of Shopping Centers prediction of a 3% increase.

The Levin poll was conducted before both the presidential election and Hurricane Sandy. However, the survey asked retailers whether they felt the election results would impact their holiday sales, and 57% said no.

Responses were already being processed when the super-storm devastated coastline areas in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Harding said that he believes only the areas hardest hit by the storm will suffer a decline in holiday sales.

“However, since the storm impacted so much of the densely populated tri-state region, a reduction in holiday spending in this area may well impact the overall holiday sales numbers,” he said.